Late Edition

Today, partly sunny, a bit breezy,

high 82. Tonight, partly cloudy, low
67. Tomorrow, increasing clouds,
perhaps turning rainy, cooler, high
75. Weather map is on Page B7.

VOL. CLXIX . . . . No. 58,786 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 $3.00

Economic Pain POST OFFICE SAYS

Waits in Wings BALLOTS MAY FAIL
At Every Level
TO ARRIVE IN TIME
Gaps in Public Budgets
May Force Huge Cuts EVERY STATE IS WARNED

This article is by Jeanna Smialek,

Alan Rappeport and Emily Coch-
Slowdown Fuels Charges
rane. Trump Is Attempting
WASHINGTON — The U.S.
economy struggled to shake off to Hinder Voting
the last recession, with histori-
cally slow growth and a labor mar-
ket that took more than six years This article is by Luke Broadwa-
to recover its earlier employment ter, Hailey Fuchs and Nick Corasa-
levels. A big part of the reason: niti.
state and local governments, WASHINGTON — The Postal
which cut spending and fired Service has warned states that it
workers amid widespread budget may not be able to meet their
shortfalls. deadlines for delivering last-
The same dynamic poses one of minute mail-in ballots, further fu-
the biggest threats to America’s eling the clash over the new post-
recovery from the pandemic master general’s handling of vote-
downturn. State governments are by-mail operations as President
again experiencing extreme Trump continued to rail against
budget problems as they pay out the practice.
increasing sums to cover unem-
In letters sent in July to all 50
ployment and health costs caused
states and the District of Colum-
by the coronavirus crisis while
bia, Thomas J. Marshall, the gen-
revenue from sales taxes and cor-
eral counsel for the Postal Service,
porate and personal income tax
NITASHIA JOHNSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
payments plummets. States could told most of them that “certain
A food bank in Dallas. With unemployment at 10.2 percent and more businesses closing, states are bracing for more safety net costs. face a gap of at least $555 billion deadlines for requesting and cast-
through the 2022 fiscal year, ac- ing mail-in ballots are incongru-
cording to one estimate. ous with the Postal Service’s de-
Economists warn that the long- livery standards.”

Quietly, Greece They Can’t Afford a Learning Pod. Now What? term risk coming from struggling
states could prove even more
As many states turn to vote-by-
mail operations to carry out elec-

Casts Refugees instruction offered by public

damaging this time than the last
recession, which spanned 2007 to
Hiring of Private Tutors schools
By ABBY GOOD has become an obsession 2009, unless Washington steps in.
Adrift in Rafts Rodriguez heard about one of the by Wealthy Widens Practically overnight, a virtual
WASHINGTON — When Shy
among many parents of means. Yet providing more aid to state
and local governments has be-
cottage industry of companies come one of the biggest political
hottest trends in education during
the pandemic — learning pods, Education Divide and consultants has emerged to battles in the fight over another
By PATRICK KINGSLEY help families organize pods and pandemic rescue package.
where parents hire teachers for
and KARAM SHOUMALI pair them with instructors, many The Senate formally adjourned
small-group, in-home instruction
RHODES, Greece — The Greek — she knew immediately it was of whom are marketing them- on Thursday until early Septem-
days while their children attend selves on Facebook pages and
government has secretly expelled something she could never afford ber, all but ending any chance that
online school together at home. neighborhood listservs.
more than 1,000 refugees from Eu- for her sons. an agreement could be reached
“I feel like it can be extremely But the cost, often from $30 an soon. House members had al-
rope’s borders in recent months, Like many parents, Ms. Rodri- discouraging,” Ms. Rodriguez, 33,
sailing many of them to the edge guez, a single mother and nursing hour per child to $100 or more, has ready left Washington.
said of the widening educational put them out of reach for most President Trump and top Re-
of Greek territorial waters and assistant in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., CAROLYN KASTER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
gulf between wealthier children families, generating concerns that publicans, including Senator
then abandoning them in inflat- was deeply dissatisfied with the Louis DeJoy leads the agency.
online instruction her school dis- and her sons, 8 and 11. People who the trend could make public edu- Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the
able and sometimes overbur-
dened life rafts. trict provided last spring. Facing live paycheck to paycheck, she cation even more segregated and majority leader, say that provid-
said, feel “like we’re directly fail- unequal. ing more money to states could tions safely amid the coronavirus
Since March, at least 1,072 asy- more of the same this fall — her
ing our children because we can’t “Hiring a tutor is expensive, simply bail out fiscally irresponsi- pandemic, Mr. Marshall urged
lum seekers have been dropped at district is offering an in-person op-
offer or afford the same level of op- even if it’s divvied up between a ble governments that did not man- those with tight schedules to re-
sea by Greek officials in at least 31 tion for now, but she isn’t comfort-
able sending her boys — she set portunities.” couple of families,” said Charese age their budgets and their public quire that residents request bal-
separate expulsions, according to
out to create a more basic, and af- By any name — learning pods, Paulson, 40, of Wilmington, Del., pension plans prudently in good lots at least 15 days before an elec-
an analysis of evidence by The
fordable, type of pod: where par- pandemic pods or microschools — who lost her job as an accounts times. Treasury Secretary Steven tion — rather than the shorter pe-
New York Times from three inde-
ents take turns with child-care du- the hiring of teachers to supple- payable clerk during the pan- Mnuchin said Wednesday in a riods currently allowed under the
pendent watchdogs, two academ-
ties so they can go to work most ment or even replace the virtual Continued on Page A7 television interview that most laws of many states.
ic researchers and the Turkish
states had not exhausted the $150 “This mismatch creates a risk
Coast Guard. The Times inter-
billion that was allocated in the re- that ballots requested near the
viewed survivors from five of
lief bill passed in March, though deadline under state law will not
those episodes and reviewed pho-
tographic or video evidence from analysts say much of that has al- be returned by mail in time to be
all 31. ready been earmarked for certain counted,” Mr. Marshall wrote.
“It was very inhumane,” said projects. Many states have long allowed
Najma al-Khatib, a 50-year-old Democrats insist that states voters to request a mail ballot
Syrian teacher, who says masked need more money and have pro- close to the election, but the Postal
Greek officials took her and 22 posed as much as $1 trillion, say- Service suggested that the large
others, including two babies, un- ing it would support needed serv- volume of voting by mail at a time
der cover of darkness from a de- ices and help the economy recover of widespread delivery delays
tention center on the island of more quickly. meant that states would be better
Rhodes on July 26 and abandoned While many governments en- off building more time into their
them in a rudderless, motorless tered the downturn with solid tax systems.
life raft before they were rescued revenues and billions of dollars in Mr. Marshall said Nevada, New
by the Turkish Coast Guard. their emergency reserve funds, Mexico, Oregon and Rhode Island
“I left Syria for fear of bombing those coffers are quickly dwin- should not have any trouble,
— but when this happened, I dling. State revenues “could fall as based on their laws, while he re-
wished I’d died under a bomb,” Continued on Page A6 Continued on Page A15
she told The Times.
Illegal under international law,
the expulsions are the most direct
and sustained attempt by a Euro-
pean country to block maritime Trump Turns to a Racist Trope
migration using its own forces
since the height of the migration
crisis in 2015, when Greece was
With a Far-Reaching History
the main thoroughfare for mi-
plicated history in forging gender
grants and refugees seeking to en-
This article is by Melena Ryzik, identity, power and class. The “an-
ter Europe. SERGEI GAPON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Reggie Ugwu, Maya Phillips and Ju- gry Black woman” remains a cul-
The Greek government denied
any illegality. Anger at a Dictator Builds lia Jacobs. tural and social fixture, a ster-
eotype that has been used to deni-
Continued on Page A11 Protesters in Minsk, Belarus. President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko’s base turned on him. Page A8. Kamala Harris may become the
grate artists, athletes and political
first Black woman elected as vice
figures.
president, but for now she’s still
“The notion of the angry Black
being slotted into a well-worn
woman was a way — is a way — of
‘Nobody Buys It’: Palestinians See Israel-U.A.E. Deal as Betrayal mold, as President Trump and his
allies sought to cast her as “a mad trying to keep in place Black wom-
en who have stepped outside of
woman.”
ship, which said that nobody had balm for the Palestinians, many of Within hours of her joining Joe their bounds, and who have re-
By ISABEL KERSHNER
coordinated with them about the
shipment.
Feeling Abandoned by them considered it, instead, a stab
in the back. The deal was a diplo-
Biden on the Democratic ticket on fused to concede the legitimacy of
being a docile being in the face of
and ADAM RASGON Tuesday, Mr. Trump branded her
That was just a prelude to a Fellow Arabs matic coup for Israel, but it rup- “extraordinarily nasty,” and then white power,” said Michael Eric
JERUSALEM — When the un- greater humiliation. Palestinian tured decades of professed Arab “so angry,” as the rhetoric ratch- Dyson, the Georgetown professor
marked United Arab Emirates officials maintain that nobody unity around the Palestinian eted up. By Thursday, a Trump and author.
plane touched down on the tarmac consulted with them before in exchange for Israel’s suspend- cause. It swapped one Palestinian campaign fund-raising email The trope, like all stereotypes,
in Tel Aviv one night in May carry- Thursday’s surprise announce- ing annexation of parts of the oc- nightmare — annexation, which called her “the meanest” senator. is meant to make its subject into
ing 16 tons of unsolicited medical ment by President Trump that Is- cupied West Bank. many world leaders had warned All of it played on a racist trope something one-dimensional and
aid for the Palestinians, it was re- rael and the Emirates had agreed If the pullback from annexation would be an illegal land grab — for that goes back generations in easier to puncture. It demeans
jected by the Palestinian leader- to “full normalization of relations” was presented as some kind of a Continued on Page A9 American culture, and has a com- Continued on Page A14

BUSINESS B1-6 TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-7 ARTS C1-6 SPORTSSATURDAY B8-10 THIS WEEKEND

Retail Sales Guantánamo Plan Criticized Finding Fame, A Swimmer Finds His Pool
Are Up Again Democratic senators questioned if there A Team Effort Rudy Garcia-Tolson’s attempt to make a
Spending rose 1.2 was enough capacity to help either Tobe Nwigwe, a fifth Paralympic swim team after three
percent from June, detainees at Guantánamo Bay or their Houston rapper years of retirement lacked a key ele-
the third straight guards if they became sick. PAGE A5
and singer, has ment — a pool where he could train.
monthly increase, found a new audi- Enter David Duchovny. PAGE B9

but the ending of Transmission by Older Children ence with a song

government aid in A report from South Korea challenges about the police The Bottom for Barcelona
July tempers the an earlier finding regarding older chil- killing of Breonna An 8-2 thrashing in the Champions
outlook. PAGE B1 dren spreading the virus. PAGE A5 Taylor. PAGE C5 League quarterfinals showed Bayern
Munich at the peak of its powers and
TikTok’s Young User Base NATIONAL A13-17 Fringe Spirit Goes Virtual Barcelona at the end of the line, Rory
Three current and former employees Edinburgh’s influential arts festival has Smith writes. On Soccer. PAGE B8
expressed concerns about the app’s Ex-F.B.I. Lawyer to Plead Guilty been canceled for the first time in its
safeguards for its big population of Kevin Clinesmith, who worked in the 73-year history, but theater makers and EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19
preteens, some of whom are well below Mueller inquiry, says he altered a C.I.A. fans are keeping the madcap energy of U(D54G1D)y+@!%!.!?!"
the minimum age of 13 to join. PAGE B1 email only for clarity. PAGE A16 the experience alive online. PAGE C1 Timothy Egan PAGE A18
A2 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

A. G. SULZBERGER
NEWS EDITORIAL
Publisher
DEAN BAQUET Executive Editor KATHLEEN KINGSBURY Editorial Page Editor
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Inside The Times The Newspaper

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY And Beyond

CORRECTIONS A17
CROSSWORD C3
OBITUARIES B11-12
OPINION A18-19
TV LISTINGS C7
WEATHER B7
CLASSIFIED ADS B9

AUDIO
On a recent episode of “The Argu-
ment” podcast, the Opinion team’s
Jeneen Interlandi and Elizabeth
Bruenig joined Frank Bruni and
JORDAN AWAN
Ross Douthat to discuss the coro-
navirus in America as well as the
moral obligations of the Roman
Catholic Church in 2020.
nytimes.com/theargument

The News Quiz

Did you follow the headlines this week? Take our quiz to find out.

1. Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his 8. The police in Hong Kong on Monday
vice-presidential running mate. Her father arrested Jimmy Lai, a prominent pro-
is from Jamaica, and her mother immigrat- democracy media tycoon, and raided the
ed from which country? offices of his newspaper. What is the name
a. Bangladesh of his publication? VIDEO
b. India a. Apple Daily In a new “Anatomy of a Scene,”
c. Pakistan b. China Daily the directors Henry Joost and
d. Sri Lanka c. Democracy Daily Ariel Schulman narrate a se-
d. Mandarin Daily quence from their Netflix action
2. One week after resuming in-person
classes, a school district in which state 9. Which company sued Steve Eas- film “Project Power” in which
ordered over a thousand people to quaran- terbrook, its former chief executive? Jamie Foxx fights a man on fire.
tine? a. American Airlines nytimes.com/video
a. Florida b. McDonald’s
b. Georgia c. Target
c. North Carolina d. Victoria’s Secret
d. Texas
10. Who won the 102nd P.G.A. Champi-
3. Sumner Redstone, the billionaire entre- onship last Sunday?
preneur and media mogul, died on Tues- a. Dustin Johnson
Give the gift they’ll day. Which company did he acquire in 1987,
at the age of 64?
b. Brooks Koepka
c. Rory McIlroy

open every day. a. Disney

b. Fox
d. Collin Morikawa

11. Which annual event went on as

COOKING
c. NBC Making your own ice cream isn’t
planned, recently drawing about 250,000
d. Viacom that difficult, especially with NYT
Gift subscriptions to The Times start at $25. people to a town that has fewer than 7,000
Cooking’s complete guide, which
Visit nytimes.com/gift or call 1-800-NYTIMES. 4. Which U.S. government agency an- residents?
will walk you through everything
nounced a substantial reorganization? a. Burning Man
you need to know, from the four
a. Environmental Protection Agency b. California International Marathon
base recipes to tips on toppings.
b. Food and Drug Administration c. Coachella
cooking.nytimes.com
c. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement d. Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
d. Postal Service

5. Two major conferences announced that

they would postpone their college football
seasons. One was the Pac-12. What was the
other conference?
a. Atlantic Coast
b. Big Ten
c. Big 12
d. Southeastern
GAMES
6. Which country became the first in the Play Letter Boxed, a daily chal-
world to approve a possible vaccine for the lenge to create words by connect-
coronavirus? ing letters lining a square. Just
a. Australia remember one of the rules: No
b. India

The truth
cussing. nytimes.com/games
c. Russia
d. United States

is worth it. 7. The government of which country

resigned on Monday?
a. Belarus
Find previous quizzes at nytimes.com/newsquiz.
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Contact the Newsroom
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On This Day in History

A MEMORABLE HEADLINE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

AS STOICS GIVE IN, AIR-CONDITIONERS SELL OUT

August 15, 1988. A late-summer heat wave drove even the staunchest air-conditioning
holdouts — those who “had held off for financial reasons, others because they had de-
cided to ‘tough it out,’ and still others on moral grounds” — in search of window units the
city over, The Times reported. They were scarce. “I’ve sold everything. I’ve sold demos.
I’ve sold display. I’ve even sold the pictures,” one AC salesman said. The previous day,
the temperature had risen above 90 degrees for the 31st time that year.
Subscribers can browse the complete Times archives through 2002 at timesmachine.nytimes.com.

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018-1405

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 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 0N A3

Of Interest
NOTEWORTHY FACTS FROM TODAY’S PAPER

A Gallup poll late last year found that David Chapple, a civil servant, holds
Socialism is now as popular as the record for the most performances
capitalism among people aged viewed at a single Edinburgh Fringe
18 to 39. Festival, with 304 in 2014. The event
A Marxist’s Views on Race and Class Expose a Rift is considered the world’s biggest arts
Among Socialists A13 festival.
• Edinburgh’s Fringe Spirit Lives Online C1
Merrimack College, a private •
institution in North Andover, Mass., In the Somali National Army, just
is charging a “Covid mitigation” fee 900 of the 25,000 troops are
of $475 per semester to all students women.
taking in-person classes this year. A Somali Colonel’s Quest to Root Out
MIN HEO
New Fee on Some College Bills: Terror and Ingrained Discrimination A10
It’s for the Virus B6
•
• About half of the students in last
Around 15 million people in the
There is debate about whether “The year’s Yale freshman class identified
European Union were unemployed
Well-Tempered Clavier,” a themselves as white and a quarter as
in June, a rise of 700,000 since
composition by Johann Sebastian Asian-American, with
April, according to Eurostat, Europe’s
Bach, was intended for harpsichord African-American students making
statistics agency.
or clavichord. up 12 percent and Latino students at
In Europe, Millions of Jobless Fall
Is Bach Better on a Harp? C1 15 percent. Through Cracks B1
Yale Students Denounce
Discrimination Accusations A17

The Conversation Spotlight

THREE OF THE MOST READ, SHARED AND DISCUSSED POSTS ADDITIONAL REPORTAGE AND REPARTEE
FROM ACROSS NYTIMES.COM FROM OUR JOURNALISTS

Trump Encourages Racist Conspiracy Theory A recent edition of the In Her Words newsletter featured
About Kamala Harris excerpts from an interview with Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a
“I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” former deputy president of South Africa who is now the execu-
President Trump said of Ms. Harris on Thursday. Mr. Trump tive director of U.N. Women, a United Nations entity dedi-
apparently was referring to an opinion article published in cated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. In
Newsweek that argued birthright citizenship is not guaran- the edited interview segments below, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka
teed under the Constitution. Ms. Harris’s parents immigrated talked about the risks the pandemic poses to women and girls.
from Jamaica and India. The Newsweek article and its author
were roundly discredited by scholars and historians. Mr. How do you see the pandemic playing out long-term

Hoop Dreams
Trump’s forwarding of this message echoed his attacks years for women?
earlier against the citizenship of Barack Obama. This was the
most read article on Friday.

How Biden Chose Harris: A Search That Forged As you probably know, every pandemic has a gender
New Stars, Friends and Rivalries dimension, and this one is no different. Women are CO N F E T T I SNAP H OO P E AR R I N G S
Alexander Burns, Jonathan Martin and Katie Glueck reported affected not just by the virus or the disease, but by the 18 K / M u l t i c o l o r e d D i a m o n d s
that Kamala Harris was among a handful of women who circumstances surrounding it.
seemed capable of matching all the criteria that the Biden
campaign sought in a running mate. Two others were Repre- Women are the majority of nurses, so they are the ones
sentative Karen Bass of California, who emerged late in the who are on the front lines. Women are also affected by
process, and Susan E. Rice, below, who worked with Mr. Biden the unpaid care responsibility. If there’s a spillover of
when she was national security adviser. sick people who can’t go to hospital, it is the women at
home who are looking after those people.

We are very concerned about girls not going back

to school after the schools have closed for this long
time. If they become pregnant at this time, that is the
beginning of a journey of poverty for most girls. If at
this time they are trafficked, you know they are lost to
society and their rights will be violated in unimaginable
ways. All of this shrinks the woman’s economic
potential in society for the long term.

And of course, they are in low-paying jobs. They are not

in jobs where they can enforce a contract. In that way,
DOUG MILLS/ THE NEW YORK TIMES
even when there’s a stimulus given to their employers,
Ex-F.B.I. Lawyer Expected to Plead Guilty in Review they are not in a strong position to demand that they
Of Russia Inquiry are also counted.
President Trump immediately promoted the plea agreement
as proof that the Russia investigation was illegitimate and To sign up to receive the In Her Words newsletter, go to
politically motivated. nytimes.com/inherwords.

PA U L M O R E L L I .C OM
Sketchbook N YC : 8 95 M A D I S O N ( 7 2 N D & M A D I S O N )
P H L : 1118 WA L N U T S T R E E T
PRIORITY: MAIL
212. 5 8 5 . 42 0 0

Cost-cutting at the U.S. Postal Serv-

ice appears to have led to slower and
less reliable delivery. With record-
setting levels of mail-in voting ex-
pected for November, the survival of
the Post Office has become a politi-
cal issue — and an urgent one. CLAY HICKSON

Quote of the Day Here to Help

QUIETLY, GREECE CASTS HOW TO HANDLE A MOM-FRIEND BREAKUP
REFUGEES ADRIFT IN RAFTS A1

Countless articles and books exhort preg-

“I left Syria for fear of nant women to find their postpartum
“squad,” promising bonds that can last a
bombing — but when lifetime. But for some, friendships forged
in the crucible of early parenting are tran-
this happened, I sitional, temporal or transactional, and can
wished I’d died under be complicated by big emotions when they
don’t turn out as expected.
a bomb.” We seek connection during times of
NADMA AL-KHATIB, a Syrian teacher
upheaval, explained Juli Fraga, a clinical
who says she and 22 others were taken psychologist in San Francisco. “The need BIANCA BAGNARELLI

by officials from a Greek detention for support in new parenting is so strong,”

through the same life change,” Fraga said.
center and abandoned in a life raft. she said. “But oftentimes, we don’t know a
Sheryl Ziegler, a Denver-based clinical
person outside of their role as a parent,
psychologist, advised women to reconsider
and we mistake intimate moments as
grieving friendships that have ended. “You
emotional intimacy.” The latter requires
are much happier when you realize that
vulnerability and transparency, and par-
your kid’s best friend’s mom might not
ents, in the maelstrom of the arrival of a
have been somebody you would have
new child, may not have the ability to form
chosen to be your friend,” she said.
such close, sturdy familiarities.
Ms. Fraga suggested asking yourself
While many friendships gradually grow
what kind of friendships you need in par-
faint because of time, space or disinterest,
enthood, and how you can form those,
other splits are precipitated by larger
rather than pursuing relationships that
tensions, from differences in parenting
you have been convinced are necessary.
styles, to politics and religion, to monu-
“The best way we can cultivate intimate
mental shifts in family dynamics.
relationships with other people,” she said,
A friendship that has ended isn’t mean-
“is to cultivate intimate relationships with
ingless. These connections have great
ourselves.” POOJA MAKHIJANI
worth, whether in the short or long term.
“They can provide validation and a sense For more parenting advice, visit
of belonging with people who are going nytimes.com/parenting.
A4 SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

Tracking an Outbreak
N

Coronavirus Update Hot Spots in the United States

As of Friday evening, more than 5,310,300 people across every state, plus Washington, D.C., and four U.S. territories, have tested positive for the
coronavirus, according to a New York Times database. More than 168,100 people with the virus have died in the United States.
States Face $555 Billion Budget Shortfall
Average daily cases per 100,000 people
Retail Sales Up 1.2%, to Pre-Virus Levels in the past week

Wash.
Britain Adds France to Its Quarantine List 16 32 48 Few or
no cases Maine
Mont. N.D.
Minn.

By JAMES BARRON Minn.

Vt.
Ore. Idaho N.H.
Channeling more aid to struggling state governments has become
Mass.
one of the most troubling issues in the debate over another coro- S.D. Wis. N.Y.
navirus rescue package. States governments have been under ex- Calif. Wyo. Conn. R.I.
Mich.
treme financial pressure, facing plunging tax revenues while paying
unemployment benefits to millions of people. States could face a Pa.
Neb. Iowa N.J.
cumulative budget gap of $555 billion through the 2022 fiscal year, Nev.
Ohio
according to one estimate. Many economists say that long-term Ill. Md.
D.C. Del.
financial damage to states could be greater than in the last reces- Ind.
W.Va.
Utah Colo.
sion — unless Washington pitches in. Va.
Kan.
But even as the coronavirus surged across the South and the
Ky.
West last month, Americans kept shopping. Retail sales rose 1.2 Mo.
percent in July, less than in May and June but enough to return Ariz. Tenn. N.C.
sales back to where they were in February, before the outbreak took Ark.
hold and many nonessential businesses shut down. The retail re- S.C.
Okla.
bound has been buoyed by $600-a-week supplemental unemploy- N.M. Ala.
Ga.
ment payments, but they have expired. And with Congress and the
Trump administration at odds over another coronavirus stimulus La.
Miss.
bill, many economists expect retail to stall as summer ends.
Still, some big chains are giving it the new college try, tailoring
Texas
their sales pitches to remote learners. Bed Bath & Beyond recently
Alaska
introduced a “College at Home” section on its website, promoting
Fla.
ways students can transform their childhood bedrooms into what
the home goods retailer calls “dreamy dorm spaces” for remote
learning. Kohl’s back-to-school offerings are listed on the chain’s Puerto Rico
Hawaii
website under a tagline that covers all the possibilities: “Heading
back or logging in, the new year starts here.” Below links to jeans,
shoes and backpacks is another link that says: “Take care, every-
one. Shop face masks + hand sanitizer.”
Sources: State and local health agencies. The map shows the share of population with a new reported case over the last week. Parts of a county with a
population density lower than 10 people per square mile are not shaded. Data for Rhode Island is shown at the state level because county level data is
California Remains a Hot Spot infrequently reported. Data is as of Aug. 14, 2020, at 5 p.m. Eastern. THE NEW YORK TIMES

California passed its latest grim milestone after the seven-day

average of new virus cases jumped by more than 30 percent in less
COLLEGE PLACEMENT SYSTEM
than a week, from just over 6,500 cases on Aug. 8 to nearly 8,900
cases on Thursday. Just one day earlier, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a
Democrat, had noted that hospitalizations had dropped to their
lowest in nearly six weeks, and that California was “turning a cor-
ner on this pandemic.”
Fill-In for Canceled Exams Spurs Anger in Britain
But while California remains a hot spot, the five metropolitan By MEGAN SPECIA
areas in the United States with the highest rates of new cases rela- Hundreds of thousands of teen-
tive to their populations are all in South Texas, according to data agers in England tore open envel-
compiled by The New York Times. All five are along the border with opes this week bearing the results
Mexico or on the Gulf Coast — Brownsville-Harlingen, Eagle Pass, of their A-levels, comprehensive
exams that are supposed to assess
Rio Grande City, Corpus Christi and Laredo, where hospitals have
the quality of their secondary edu-
been at or near capacity. Texas turned a Red Roof Inn in Laredo into cation and serve as a barometer
a 106-bed temporary hospital for coronavirus patients with mild for college entrance.
cases, but local leaders have been urging officials to admit patients But many were in for disap-
with more serious cases as well. “We see an unprecedented amount pointment, when the grades
of death,” said Dr. Victor Treviño, the top health official in Laredo. handed out in England, Wales and
He and other congressional Democrats in Texas have criticized Northern Ireland were lower than
Gov. Greg Abbott’s handling of the state’s reopening. When Mr. they had expected, based on their
Abbott, a Republican, reopened the state in phases beginning May 1, past grades and performance on
he lifted a stay-at-home order and prohibited local officials from previous “mock” exams. That was
the result of a system designed as
adopting their own mandates. After the number of cases increased,
a stand-in for exams that had to be
Mr. Abbott paused the reopening, ordered bars to close and issued a canceled this spring amid the co-
mask mandate for most Texans. ronavirus pandemic, one that has
“Shutting down the bars isn’t enough,” said Representative been sharply criticized as unfair
Filemon B. Vela Jr., a Democrat whose district includes Brownsville to students from disadvantaged
and Harlingen. On Thursday, he called on the governor to issue areas.
stay-at-home orders in hard-hit counties or to allow local officials to Samantha Smith, 18, from
put them in place. Telford in England’s struggling
More than 16 percent of Texans have tested positive for the West Midlands, said she had long
harbored concerns the system
coronavirus over the past seven days, according to Johns Hopkins
would affect disadvantaged stu-
University. In Los Angeles, the percentage is just below 7 percent. dents more. Her fears were con- PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOLGA AKMEN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
By contrast, fewer than 1 percent of the coronavirus tests in New firmed, she said, when she re-
York State have been positive for seven straight days, Gov. Andrew ceived scores far lower than she Above, students demonstrat-
M. Cuomo said on Friday. The state has managed not only to control had expected. ing in central London on Fri-
its outbreak, once the worst in the nation, but also to contain it far “It was unfathomable,” she day to protest lower-than-ex-
longer than most officials expected. said. “It felt like a reminder of my pected results on A-level tests.
place, and it felt as though it was a Left, students collecting their
way of the exam board saying results on Thursday.
your post code is more important
New Coronavirus Cases Announced Daily in U.S. than your potential.”
As of Friday evening, more than 5,310,300 people across every state, Those grades have left her ineli- flawed. She said the teachers’ as-
plus Washington, D.C., and four U.S. territories, have tested positive gible for any of the law programs sessments of their students’
for the virus, according to a New York Times database. she had expected to begin in the grades are a better barometer of
fall. the students’ skills than the sys-
Ms. Smith has joined many stu- tem devised by the government.
dents, parents, teachers and law- “A lot of my students have nei-
60,000 makers in criticizing the grading ther got the grades that they de-
system, calling it arbitrary and serve nor the grades that they
classist. Legal challenges to the need to progress to the next stage
New cases results have already begun. in their education or employment
In a typical year, students pre- or apprenticeships,” she said.
30,000 paring for college in Britain would Some have called for the resig-
sit for the advanced level qualifi- lower than those estimated by nation of Gavin Williamson, Brit-
beginning at age 16, had looked
cations, known as A-levels, in the ain’s education minister, with
forward to taking her exams this their teachers, the principal, Gill
7-day summer, and the grades would de- some students protesting outside
year to qualify for a law program. Burbridge. said. That discrepancy
average termine university placements. government buildings on Friday.
Despite the homelessness, and was significantly higher than the
The exams are subject-based and But Prime Minister Boris Johnson
working three jobs while finishing national average.
often compared to the American has defended the system as pro-
her schooling, she had secured a “These students are being
March 1 Aug. 14 SAT or ACT college entrance ex- viding a “robust set of grades.”
place preliminarily in the law pro- judged not on their performance
Note: Friday’s total is incomplete because some states report cases after ams — also criticized as biased For many students, the coming
press time. Data is as of Aug. 14, 2020, at 5 p.m. Eastern. grams at two universities, based — because it’s never been tested
against disadvantaged students weeks will be a scramble to see
Sources: State and local health agencies; hospitals; C.D.C. THE NEW YORK TIMES on her results in practice exams. in the exam room — but based
— but they carry even greater whether they can enroll in a uni-
“Your personal circumstances, largely on the historical data of the versity with their current or mock
weight. school” they attended, she said.
your efforts overcoming adversi- scores, or whether they will ap-
For most university-bound
ty, it doesn't matter,” she said. “Be- The fact that high-performing peal the results or re-sit exams
British students, the A-level re-
North Korean City Reopens cause a person like you, a person students with strong academic next year.
sults are the only quantitative
from your background, from your credentials who attend schools in “It’s a massive thing,” said Amy
measure of their secondary edu-
North Korea lifted a lockdown for Kaesong, the border city into socio-economic class, you aren’t less advantaged areas are likely to Turnbull, 19, a student from Man-
cation.
which a defector swam last month. The country, which had sealed expected to do well. That’s the see a lower grade than those at- chester who received her results
But in the absence of testing be-
its already tightly controlled borders early in the pandemic and same brush they paint you with.” tending an elite school amounted on Thursday.
cause of the coronavirus, the gov-
insisted it had no coronavirus cases, suspected the 24-year-old man On average, student results to “a scandal,” she said. She had expected to take her
ernment introduced a compli-
of bringing the virus with him. The government quickly closed off cated system to provide a grade have risen in England, with At her school, Ms. Burbridge exam this summer, after already
Kaesong. for those students. First, teachers slightly more of the highest said, the impact has been felt most postponing exams for a year as
gave an estimate of how their stu- grades handed out than in previ- among the highest and lowest she recovered from a broken back
But on Friday, the state news media quoted the North Korean
dents would have performed had ous years. But around 40 percent achievers. For students aspiring from a skiing accident. She ex-
leader, Kim Jong-un, as saying that Kaesong was stable after three of students in England received a to places at highly competitive
they taken the tests. Those grades pected to achieve marks that
weeks of isolation measures and unspecified “scientific verification.” grade one step lower than their universities, a slight reduction in
were then moderated by Ofqual, would allow her to enroll in a com-
In South Korea, where officials have said there was no proof that teachers predicted, according to their grades based on the algo- petitive medicine program, but in-
England’s watchdog for exams
the man was infected, the government reported the biggest daily and assessments, which adjusted the BBC, citing Ofqual figures, rithm could alter the course of stead of the three A’s she expected
jump in new cases on Friday — 103, mostly in and around Seoul. the grades through a computer al- and 3 percent of students were their careers. she got three C’s.
In Europe, France declared Paris a high-risk region. France’s gorithm. shifted down by at least two On the other end of the spec- “I felt devastated — I felt like
caseload has been rising since late July. On Thursday, its seven-day But that calculation heavily grades. trum, the lowest-performing stu- my whole future had just been
average for new cases climbed above 2,000 cases, a level last seen weighted the historic perform- In the face of a furious backlash, dents were assigned failing torn away,” she said.
on April 20, when the country’s initial outbreak was subsiding. On ance of individual schools. That the Department of Education said grades in subjects they may have While she has received an offer
had the effect of raising scores for students could appeal their passed if actually tested. of a placement at another univer-
Friday, Britain put France on its quarantine list, meaning that trav-
students from private schools and grades, sit for exams in the fall or “I do not see how a student can sity, Ms. Turnbull said the grades
elers arriving from France after 4 a.m. Saturday must spend 14 days use the results of practice exams if
those in wealthy areas and de- fail something that they haven’t could damage her career
in isolation. On short notice, British vacationers cut their holidays pressing scores for students from those scores were higher. actually themselves done,” Ms. prospects.
short and rushed to find a way home. less advantaged areas. At Leyston Sixth Form College, Burbridge said. “It’s determining the future of
Ms. Smith, a first-generation a school for 16 to 19 year olds in Like many administrators and what you are going to go do for the
Coronavirus Update wraps up the day’s developments with infor- Briton of Afro-Hispanic descent East London, about 47 percent of teachers, she believes the system rest of your life,” she said. “So it’s
mation from across the virus report. who was homeless for two years the students received grades was ill-conceived and deeply not something to be taken lightly.”
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N A5

Tracking an Outbreak Science and Checks and Balances

PENTAGON’S COVID-19 REPORT

Senators Criticize Plan

For Guantánamo Prison
By CAROL ROSENBERG Those who typically go inside
A group of Democratic senators include Army guards, mostly Na-
said Friday that they were wor- tional Guard troops on nine-
ried about the military’s ability to month tours, Navy medical staff
handle a coronavirus outbreak at temporarily assigned to the pris-
the wartime prison at Guantá- on’s Joint Medical Group and resi-
namo Bay, Cuba, after the Penta- dent Pentagon contract workers,
gon told Congress that it could such as linguists and janitors.
maintain just four of the 40 detain- The Pentagon notified the sena-
ees on ventilators and offered no tors that the prison has different
details of how it might care for the medical teams for the detainees
1,500 troops there. and their guards “to mitigate any
“The Pentagon’s response inadvertent cross-contamina-
leaves doubts about the Guantá- tion.”
namo prison’s capacity to protect The prison has the capacity to
military personnel and detainees isolate each of the 40 prisoners, in-
from Covid-19,” the 11 senators cluding with space for four in reg-
said in a statement, which includ- ular inpatient rooms, two in inten-
ed a call “to responsibly close this sive care and two more in rooms
facility that is inconsistent with that have negative pressure and
our values, does not make us safer can control the flow of infectious
and wastes taxpayer dollars.” particles.
The senators, led by Elizabeth The prison clinic has six ventila-
Warren of Massachusetts and tors and the ability to maintain
Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the four “Covid-19 ICU patients on
ranking member of the Senate ventilators at the same time,” ac-
Armed Services Committee, cording to a fact sheet furnished
wrote Defense Secretary Mark T. by Mr. Donovan. As of July 9, the
Esper in May seeking details on military had ordered a portable
CHUNG SUNG-JUN/GETTY IMAGES
how the remote base would han- oxygen generator for the prison
A classroom in Seoul. South Korean researchers backtracked on a finding that older children spread the virus more than adults. dle an outbreak, particularly clinic that, meantime, had a “large
among the older detainees and number of oxygen tanks avail-
RESEARCH those with chronic illnesses. able.”
The oldest prisoner turns 73 Doctors who looked at the capa-
next week. The youngest is in his bilities noted that the prison’s

New Wrinkle in Debate on Childhood Transmission mid-30s.

One key concern is that, by law,
prisoners at Guantánamo must
Covid-19 Care Team lists only four
I.C.U. nurses, far below a standard
of care that requires one such
By APOORVA MANDAVILLI But that may be because most receive all their medical care nurse per ventilated patient
studies have been too small to ad- there, while any of the other 6,000 around the clock. The team also
A study by researchers in South includes three board-certified
equately distinguish between age residents could be medically evac-
Korea last month suggested that doctors but does not specifically
groups, and because children uated to mainland hospitals if
children between the ages of 10 include anyone trained to manage
have been kept at home, away needed.
and 19 spread the coronavirus patients on ventilators, although
from potential exposures. In detailing the base’s health ca-
more frequently than adults — a the separate base hospital has a
Even if the risk of transmission pabilities, Matthew P. Donovan,
widely reported finding that influ- sailor who is trained as a respira-
from children is lower, they usu- an under secretary of defense,
enced the debate about the risks tory therapist.
ally have contact with a great said the detention operation had
of reopening schools. “They’ve identified equipment
number of other people — more so acquired the ability do rapid on-
But additional data from the re- site testing in addition to airlifting and rooms that they need, but the
search team now calls that conclu- than the average adult. When
schools reopen, these increased samples to U.S. military labs. staff is not filled in,” said Dr.
sion into question; it’s not clear The military acknowledged two Stephen N. Xenakis, a psychiatrist
who was infecting whom. The inci- exposures create more opportuni-
ties to transmit the virus, which cases of the virus on the base, in and retired Army brigadier gen-
dent underscores the need to con- March and April, before the Pen- eral who commanded the Dwight
sider the preponderance of evi- may counterbalance their lower
propensity to transmit the virus. tagon ordered installations to stop David Eisenhower Army Medical
dence, rather than any single disclosing any new cases for “op- Center at Fort Gordon in Georgia.
study, when making decisions Dr. Dean and other experts cau-
erational security” reasons. “You have got to have an I.C.U.
about children’s health or educa- tioned against interpreting the
Defense lawyers said this week nurse per ventilator,” he said.
tion, scientists said. scientific evidence so far as say-
CHEON JEONG-IN/YONHAP, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS that none of the prisoners had “Even in a negative pressure
Some of the household mem- ing that children under age 10 sim-
Children under age 10 do not spread the virus as much as adults been tested, based on calls and let- room.”
bers who appeared in the initial ply cannot spread the virus.
do, and the ability to transmit seems to increase with age. ters they had received from the Mr. Donovan’s reply said the
report to have been infected by But “it’s not true to say that they
prison since the World Health Or- prison had designated an isolated
older children in fact were ex- do not transmit,” said Bill Hanage,
ganization declared the pandemic building to quarantine and triage
posed to the virus at the same lowed infected children as they many appeared in both reports, an epidemiologist at the Harvard
on March 11. troops with Covid-19, who can ac-
time as the children. All of them spread the virus. The few studies Dr. Choe said. In the latest study, T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Col. Amanda Azubuike of the cess clinical and psychologist sup-
may have been infected by con- to have done so are not directly the researchers found only one “You hear people say this, and it’s
U.S. Southern Command, which port day and night. But the mili-
tacts they shared. comparable — their methods, the undebatable case of transmission wrong.”
oversees the prison but not the tary provided the senators with no
The disclosure does not negate policies regarding prevention, among older children, from a 16- All available evidence so far base, said this week that the de- parallel information on ventila-
the overall message of that study, and the transmission levels in year old girl, who had returned makes it clear that older children, tention operation had been able to tors, I.C.U. beds and medical staff.
experts said: Children under age communities all vary widely. from Britain, to her 14-year-old particularly those closest to adult- do rapid testing since at least The military declined to make
10 do not spread the virus as much Many studies have grouped to- sister. hood, may spread the virus as June, but declined to say how available base or prison health
as adults do, and the ability to gether children of widely varying The remaining 40 infected con- much as adults, he added. many prisoners or staff had been care providers to discuss Guantá-
transmit seems to increase with ages. Yet a 10-year-old is likely to tacts of the older children could all Conversations about reopening tested with either method. She namo’s measures for managing
age. be very different from a 20-year- be explained by a shared expo- schools are complicated because said the prison tests symptomatic and preventing the coronavirus’s
“The most important point of old in terms of infection risk and sure. so much depends on the level of people and those who had come spread. Colonel Azubuike said
the paper is that it clarifies the transmission, as well as in type The children with confirmed in- community transmission and on within six feet of them for more “services are in place” to treat
care with which we need to inter- and level of social activity, Dr. fections were isolated in hospitals socioeconomic factors, he and than 15 minutes. prison staff “as required.”
pret individual studies, particu- Munro said. or community treatment centers, other experts said. In his response to Congress, Mr. The other senators who joined
larly of transmission of a virus The first study from South Ko- and caregivers who had contact Schools can fuel the influenza Donovan said the prison — which the statement of concern were
where we know the dynamics are rea did try to document transmis- with them were required to wear virus’s spread to a disproportion- is under the command of a one- Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, Rich-
complex,” said Dr. Alasdair sion from children directly, but it masks, gloves, a full body suit and ate degree, compared with restau- star admiral and on a restricted ard J. Durbin of Illinois, Edward J.
Munro, clinical research fellow in grouped them in 10-year ranges. goggles. The low rate of transmis- rants, bars or places of worship. portion of the base — checks the Markey of Massachusetts, Sher-
pediatric infectious diseases at Tracing the contacts of 29 children sion from older children observed Children may drive those out- temperature of anybody entering rod Brown of Ohio, Thomas Car-
University Hospital Southampton aged 9 or younger, it found that the here may not represent what hap- breaks, so closing schools during the prison buildings, known as per and Chris Coons of Delaware,
in Britain. children were about half as likely pens in the real world. flu outbreaks makes sense, Dr. camps. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of
The earlier study was not in- as adults to spread the virus to The new report does suggest Hanage said. Oregon. They were joined by
tended to demonstrate transmis- others, consistent with other re- that older children are at least un- But with the coronavirus, Dr. This article was produced in part- Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an in-
sion from children to adults, only search. likely to transmit more than Hanage said, “closing schools is nership with the Pulitzer Center on dependent who is aligned with the
to describe contact tracing efforts But Dr. Choe and his colleagues adults, said Natalie Dean, a bio- not expected to provide more Crisis Reporting. Democrats.
in South Korea, said Dr. Young reported an odd finding in the statistician at the University of bang for the buck than closing
June Choe, assistant professor of group of 124 children aged 10 to 19: Florida, as had been originally other parts of society.” Instead of
social and preventive medicine at They appeared significantly more claimed. reopening bars and restaurants
Hallym University College of likely than adults to spread the co- “There’s no biological explana- along with schools, he said, Summer Sale!
Medicine and an author of both ronavirus. Experts told The Times tion for that,” she said. “It didn’t schools should be prioritized,
studies. at the time that the finding was make any sense to me.” Over all, while bars and restaurants should
Most studies of children’s trans- likely to be a fluke. Dr. Dean added, “We’re not seeing be closed in order to reduce com-
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A6 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

Tracking an Outbreak Medicines and Struggling Governments

RESEARCH

Clinical Trials of Drugs

For Virus Are Delayed
By a Swamped System
By KATIE THOMAS exposed. Although the Trump ad-
As the coronavirus pandemic ministration has heavily favored
continues to wreak havoc in the investment in vaccines, Regen-
United States and treatments are eron has won deals from the fed-
needed more than ever, clinical eral government worth more than
$500 million to ramp up manufac-
trials for some of the most promis-
turing of its antibody treatment.
ing experimental drugs are taking
longer than expected. Both companies rushed to de-
velop their products in record
Researchers at a dozen clinical
time and began large studies this
trial sites said that testing delays,
summer at dozens of hospitals
staffing shortages, space con-
and clinics around the country.
straints and reluctant patients
They are testing various groups of
were complicating their efforts to
patients, such as those who are
test monoclonal antibodies, man-
positive but not yet sick enough to
made drugs that mimic the molec-
be hospitalized, and those who
ular soldiers made by the human
have been exposed to the virus
immune system.
from someone already infected.
As a result, once-ambitious All of the trials compare the ex-
deadlines are slipping. The drug perimental drugs to a placebo, or
maker Regeneron, which previ- sham treatment.
ously said it could have emer- The fast-moving disease has
gency doses of its antibody cock- presented opportunities and chal-
tail ready by the end of summer, lenges for the researchers testing
has shifted to talking about how antibodies. As the number of in-
“initial data” could be available by fections mounted in states like
the end of September. Florida, Texas and Arizona, there
And Eli Lilly’s chief scientific of- was no shortage of patients who ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
ficer said in June that its antibody would be eligible for trials. But at
treatment might be ready in Sep-
A clinical trial site for monoclonal antibodies in Mesa, Ariz., is kept bare to increase safety and ensure a faster disinfection process.
the same time, the outbreaks
tember, but in an interview this overwhelmed the very hospitals
week, he said he now hopes for that would be overseeing the stud- when the outbreak was peaking in treatment further strains the sys- The idea of installing an outdoor Lilly’s antibody can stop the virus
something before the end of the ies. her state. “Our phones were ring- tem, and risks infecting patients tent was deemed too complicated, from invading cells and rep-
year. In remote meetings with doc- ing, probably off the hook the first and health care workers who don’t and refurbishing a room in a licating. “When I break it down
“Of course, I wish we could go tors at trial sites around the coun- two weeks,” she said. have Covid-19. nearby office building would take pretty simply like that, people are
faster — there’s no question about try, Dr. Skovronsky said some had But as labs were inundated with Some sites have resisted bring- precious weeks. like, ‘Oh, let’s do that,’ ” he said.
that,” said the Eli Lilly executive, samples, straining supply chains ing a highly infectious person onto Weeks passed before Dr. Purow But some patients are reluctant
to step out to care for patients who
Dr. Daniel Skovronsky. “I guess in and delaying results, Dr. Kohli their medical campuses, poten- finally secured a place to run the to participate. Many people asso-
required emergency intervention.
my hopes and dreams, we enroll said enrolling patients became tially sharing a lobby or elevator trial. It was in the emergency de- ciate clinical trials with treat-
“That doesn’t happen when
the patients in a week or two, but difficult. “If people are getting with people who do not have the partment, the first place he had re- ments that are given in life-or-
you’re setting up diabetes trials or
it’s taking longer than that.” tested at these facilities, but they virus. Once there, they must quested. death situations, and don’t want to
cancer trials,” he said. “We’ve had don’t have the results, then how do spend a few hours receiving an in- risk taking an experimental drug
A spokeswoman for Regeneron, investigators say: ‘Look, I’d love “We finally have it all set up to
Hala Mirza, said that all clinical we enroll them in trials?” she said. fusion of the treatment as well as go,” Dr. Purow said. “But now, our for an illness they may overcome
to do research, but I don’t have Dr. Kohli said Regeneron sent getting blood tests and complet- on their own. Others have the op-
trials involved an early learning time to set up a new trial. I’ve got numbers are declining a little bit.
period, and that the company was her a rapid-testing machine to ing paperwork required for the We’re not seeing as much as we posite rationale: They don’t want
an I.C.U. full of patients.’ ” speed up the results, and Eli Lilly study. to go through the hassle of a trial
“seeing positive momentum in re- One major hurdle has been test- thought we would.”
did the same for its trial, which At some hospitals, officials have only to receive a placebo.
cent days” as it has sent testing ing. In both of the outpatient trials So far, he said, he has enrolled
she is also running. A spokeswom- been able to use existing facilities. Doctors who are running stud-
machines to some research sites run by Eli Lilly and Regeneron, just one participant, out of a
an for Regeneron said the com- In Tyler, Texas, the UT Health ies are prohibited from making a
and has broadened criteria to al- doctors must compete with a tick- hoped-for 25. Over all, the Eli Lilly
pany had sent out “a few dozen” North Campus medical center is hard sell — patients must be in-
low more patients to participate. ing clock. According to the rules of outpatient trial is aiming for in-
testing machines to clinical trial an old tuberculosis hospital, with formed of the risks and benefits of
While much of the world’s focus the Regeneron trial, a patient sites, and was planning to send rooms that use negative air pres- cluding 400 patients. The similar participating, and the very nature
has been on the race to create a co- must be treated with the antibod- more in the coming days. sure to prevent viruses from Regeneron study has a goal of en- of a clinical trial means that no one
ronavirus vaccine, new drugs ies within seven days of the onset Eli Lilly said it was working spreading. rolling about 1,500 patients. knows if the treatment will work.
could also help curb the pandemic of symptoms. Both the Regeneron with state health departments But in other locations, like Holy Not every trial site is seeing “We can’t sort of paint it as a
by making the disease less deadly. and Eli Lilly trials require giving and other local authorities to help Cross Hospital in Fort Lau- such hurdles. Dr. Jason Morris, positive or a negative,” said Dr. G.
Because drugs are typically the drug within three days of tak- speed up testing in certain areas, derdale, Fla., finding the right who is overseeing the Eli Lilly Marshall Lyon III, who is leading
tested in sick patients in smaller ing a positive test. in addition to supplying some spot has been a struggle. Dr. study at his physician practice, the Regeneron clinical trials at
clinical trials, they can also be de- But with turnaround times in sites with testing machines. Joshua Purow, who is overseeing Imperial Health, in Lake Charles, Emory University in Atlanta. “We
veloped more quickly than vac- some areas lagging for five days Other researchers said finding the Eli Lilly outpatient trial at the La., has already exceeded his don’t know if it’s going to be di-
cines. or more, keeping within those the right spot to give the experi- hospital, rushed to get his site goals and has enrolled about 45 rectly beneficial to you; we don’t
Eli Lilly and Regeneron are pur- time frames has proved difficult. mental treatment to outpatients ready once he saw that infections patients. Dr. Morris said he or an- know if it’s going to be harmful to
suing two of the most closely Dr. Anita Kohli, the director of was complicated. Patients typical- were rising in the area. other doctor calls each person you.”
watched treatments: lab-engi- research at Arizona Clinical Tri- ly get tested at a drive-through But Holy Cross turned down his who tests positive for the virus at Dr. Lyon, who said enrollment
neered antibodies that could ei- als, a Regeneron trial site in Mesa, site, and then return home, rarely first choice, a corner of the emer- the group’s urgent care clinic and in the trial was going more slowly
ther fight off the virus in patients Ariz., said she got a rush of people visiting a hospital or clinic unless gency department, out of fears tells them about the study. than he expected, said most peo-
who are already sick or prevent wanting to volunteer for the out- their condition gets worse. Bring- that the space would be needed for He said he explains that the ple ended up “taking a wait-and-
infections in those who have been patient study earlier this summer, ing them into a medical center for more severe Covid-19 patients. study is examining whether Eli see attitude.”

RED INK

Economic Pain Looms as States and Cities Face Budget Gaps and Job Cuts
With unemployment high, at T5H8PZ0
go bankrupt,’ ” Speaker Nancy
From Page A1 10.2 percent, and many busi- Pelosi of California said of Repub-
nesses expected to close, states lican negotiators at her weekly
much as or more than they did in
are bracing for more safety net news conference on Thursday.
the worst year of the Great Reces-
sion and remain depressed in fol- costs on top of the public health “Economists tell us that our econ-
lowing years,” according to the expenses they are already incur- omy depends on the fiscal sound-
Center on Budget and Policy Pri- ring. They spend a large chunk of ness of state and local govern-
orities, a progressive think tank. their budgets on Medicaid pay- ment.”
Nearly all states are required to ments and services for low-in- The economic risks are not con-
balance their budgets, meaning come residents. fined to blue states. Idaho, West
officials will need to plug short- Yet the Trump administration Virginia and Alaska, all Republi-
falls by tapping emergency funds, and many Republican lawmakers can-dominated states, also face
raising taxes or cutting costs, in- have largely brushed off state fi- acute budget shortfalls as a per-
cluding jobs. nancial woes, insisting that gover- centage of output, based on esti-
That worries economists and nors and other local leaders foot mates from Mr. White and his col-
Federal Reserve officials. Jerome part of the pandemic aid bill and leagues at Moody’s Analytics.
H. Powell, the Fed chair, regularly refusing to “bail out” Democratic- Hard-hit governments “will
warns that state job cuts could led states struggling with huge start pulling the trigger on cutting
weigh on the economy’s ability to shortfalls in their public pension services and raising taxes” in the
recover, and his colleagues warn plans. coming years if they do not get
of public-sector budget pain as Over the weekend, Mr. Trump help, said Ernie Tedeschi, policy
one of the primary vulnerabilities suggested tapping state coffers as economist for Evercore ISI, a re-
ahead. part of his plan to extend pumped- search firm. Such cuts “don’t nec-
“It will hold back the economic up unemployment insurance essarily plunge you back into re-
recovery if they continue to lay benefits, which had been going to cession, but they can slow down
people off and if they continue to millions of workers until the pro- the economy.”
cut essential services,” Mr. Powell gram expired at the end of July. Already, many states are dip-
said during congressional testi- Governors, including some Re- ping into rainy-day funds or using
mony in June. “In fact, that’s kind publicans, expressed concern POOL PHOTO BY TASOS KATOPODIS
other temporary measures to
of what happened post the global about the administration’s at- meet their requirements for bal-
tempt to have states shoulder Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, has repeatedly warned that state job cuts could drag anced budgets, and spending cuts
financial crisis.”
Charles Evans, president of the more financial responsibility. Mr. down an economic recovery, as they did after the previous financial crisis from 2007 to 2009. are already underway or pro-
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Trump’s proposal that states con- posed in many places. In New
echoed that sentiment in a CBS in- tribute an extra $100 in weekly un- states $500 billion. York, lawmakers in April gave
terview on Sunday, saying, “As employment benefits in order to “Yes, it is a concern that we’re Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo a one-
you look at the economic outlook, get a $300 supplement from the spending the money now, but the year window to cut spending uni-
there are some negative scenari- federal government received a alternative looks far worse,” Mr. laterally as merited as the state
os, and the ones that are most pes- chilly reception from many state Cassidy said this week in an inter- faces down a huge shortfall.
simistic involve not supporting officials. view, referring to many Republi- The pain extends to local gov-
state and local governments.” Ab- “They just don’t have the cans’ reluctance to add to the ernments. More than 700 cities
sent that help, Mr. Evans said, money to kick that in,” said Dan nearly $3 trillion already spent. have scrapped plans to work on
“there will be employment reduc- White, director of government Analysts say the actual need roads, buy equipment and up-
tions.” consulting and fiscal policy re- probably falls somewhere be- grade critical infrastructure since
While it is unclear how persist- search with Moody’s Analytics. tween the various proposals. the pandemic began, based on a
ent the cuts will be — some jobs The administration soon shifted Moody’s Analytics, for instance, survey by the National League of
may still come back as economies the policy to fit that reality. Offi- estimates that states and local- Cities.
reopen — state and local employ- cials in the office of Gov. Mike ities will face a $500 billion budget States and localities have al-
ment losses this year have al- DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, hole through 2022 if the worst of ready slashed about 6 percent of
ready dwarfed those in and after said they were told late Sunday by the pandemic is already past and their combined work forces since
the entire Great Recession. Back the Labor Department of a new $750 billion if the United States the downturn began. And while
then, state and local governments option allowing unemployed faces a second pandemic wave their hiring showed a rebound last
cut about 750,000 jobs over nearly workers to claim the additional this fall. month, that was only because of a
five years. $300 per week without the state’s SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES Mr. Mnuchin has said Demo- quirk in how the data are adjusted
Just since February, about 1.2 kicking in an extra $100. New York lawmakers gave Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo a year to cut crats want federal money to help for seasonal fluctuations.
million local government jobs By midweek, White House spending in the face of a huge shortfall in the state’s budget. support ailing pension funds and Brian Sigritz, director of state
have been lost. Moody’s Analytics aides were making clear in inter- to fill budget shortfalls that states fiscal studies for the National As-
researchers estimate that 2.8 mil- views that the state payment was were facing before the pandemic sociation of State Budget Officers,
lion more could be on the chop- largely optional. wariness of unfettered additional less than other policymakers have — an assertion that Democrats said it would probably take years
ping block without more federal “We are no longer insisting on a assistance to states. And while Mr. suggested may be needed. A bi- push back on and an outcome that for states to restore their footing.
help. If that happens, state and lo- cost-sharing deal,” Larry Kudlow, Mnuchin said the White House partisan group of lawmakers, in- analysts say could be prevented “It will be a drag on G.D.P.
cal job cuts stand to shave about Mr. Trump’s economic adviser, was willing to provide an addi- cluding Senator Bill Cassidy of by including restrictions in the growth at a time when the nation’s
2.6 percent from overall pre-crisis told Fox Business. tional $150 billion to states for co- Louisiana, a Republican, are legislation. economy is attempting to re-
employment levels. Even so, Mr. Kudlow voiced ronavirus-related costs, that is far pushing a bill that would give “What did they say? ‘Let them cover,” Mr. Sigritz said.
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N A7

Tracking an Outbreak Education and Mortality

INEQUALITY IN AMERICA

Some Families Can’t Afford a Learning Pod. What Now for Their Kids?
demic for after-school care or aca-
From Page A1 demic support. Big Brothers and
demic. “Upper middle-class fam- Big Sisters of America, the YMCA
ilies can afford that, but most in- and Boys and Girls Clubs of Amer-
ner-city, lower-income families ica all are shifting to provide
can’t afford an extra $200 to $300 a learning spaces for the upcoming
week. You’re talking anywhere school year, where children can
between $800 and $1,200 a month participate in distance learning
— that’s some people’s rent.” while being supervised by staff
Ms. Paulson is counting on her members, often with meals pro-
14-year-old daughter’s charter vided. But with social distancing
school to deliver a capable online concerns, the programs will not be
experience. “I don’t have that dis- able to accommodate nearly as
posable income where I’m able to many children as usual.
hire a tutor,” she said. “There are some people that
Debates over nascent pods, in- just have to go to work and can’t
cluding some that will be taught worry about their 8-year-old be-
by parents, have consumed many ing home alone,” said Gabrielle
online forums. They have created Webster, president and chief exec-
rifts among friends, incited accu- utive of the Boys and Girls Clubs
sations of “opportunity hoarding” of Greater Washington.
by affluent whites and compelled While affluent families were
some parents to ponder whether primarily frustrated by the lack of
and how to include lower-income direct interaction with teachers
children in their pods. and classmates last spring, many
The backdrop of the summer’s lower-income families had a more
Black Lives Matter protests and pressing concern: just being able
renewed calls for racial justice has to log in, because they lacked good
made the conversation all the internet connections or even com-
more trenchant. puters. Many districts have
“Is it inequitable? A hundred vowed to fix those problems, but it
thousand percent,” said Melissa is far from clear they will succeed.
Cohen, a pharmaceutical sales In Los Angeles, Rochelle More-
representative in Los Angeles no, a single mother who was laid
who hired an experienced tutor to off from her job at an accounting
oversee distance learning for her firm in May, struggled even to af-
two children, with nanny duties ford to replace the ink cartridge in
thrown in, at a salary of $600 a her printer when her 11-year-old
week plus benefits. “But here’s the HANNAH YOON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES son was learning from home last
thing: What am I supposed to Shy Rodriguez of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., is trying to create a child care pool for her sons, Shawn Pagan, 11, left, and Jaiden Pagan, 8. spring.
do?” On top of that, she said, “Our
Some parents, rattled by the un- computer wasn’t working. It was
fairness of instructional pods, are too old, we had to upgrade the
exploring how to make them more browser, lost the login, by that
inclusive. When Myra Margolin, a point the audio wasn’t working on
psychologist and mother of two in Zoom. The biggest process was
Washington, started a Facebook trying to motivate a child already
group in June to connect with having full issues around mental
other parents interested in home- health, keeping him on task, ex-
schooling, the page quickly at- pecting him to get the work.”
tracted more than 1,000 members, “A tutor would be amazing,”
many of whom were eager to form said Ms. Moreno, a cancer sur-
pods. vivor who suffers nerve pain in
“I found myself in the middle of her foot from chemotherapy. “But
this, and it became apparent that I have no financial option for that,
it was not a positive trend,” she as I’m already on food stamps and
said. “So I asked, ‘Who wants to waiting for my social security dis-
help me think through the equity ability to be approved.”
piece of this? It’s totally clear no- It’s not only poor children being
body has any idea how to.” excluded from pod plans, but also
Ms. Margolin recently started a those with learning disabilities or
GoFundMe page to subsidize behavioral issues who, regardless
learning pods for lower-income Above, Robin Tuverson, left, was hired by Darren and Melissa of their family income, may not be
students in Washington. “I had so Cohen to tutor their children, Asher and Samantha, in Studio welcome.
many people be like, ‘Yes, this is City, Calif. Left, Rochelle Moreno, of Los Angeles, was laid off “No one will let in the kid with
so important, I love this’ — and and struggles just to afford the basics for her son, Kai Ramey, 11. learning differences or chal-
one $50 donation.” lenges,” one mother posted on DC
Education experts say fund- Urban Moms, a listserv for par-
raising efforts and “pod schol- dents a day — about 5 percent of who would each take on at least ents in Washington and its sub-
arships,” however well-meaning, its total public school population. six hours a week of child care dur- urbs.
are no solution for millions of low- “What we need is a kind of quilt ing school days. Janille Thompson, whose 8-
income parents juggling the edu- of different sources of care in sup- Instead of going back to her job year-old son attends a charter
cational, child care and economic port of learning, between other in a nursing home, which she quit school in one of Washington’s
challenges of the pandemic. parents, community-based based in the spring out of fear for her poorest neighborhoods, has not
More useful, they say, would be organizations, churches and child health and that of her children, heard about the pod craze or bid-
if school districts or city govern- care centers themselves,” said El- Ms. Rodriguez is thinking of deliv- ding wars for in-home tutors. She
ments created their own version liot Haspel, the author of “Crawl- ering food for DoorDash. She also can work from home two or three
of learning pods, especially for at- ing Behind: America’s Childcare has hopes of incorporating her so- days a week for now, and on the
risk students or children of essen- Crisis and How to Fix It.” “But it’s called child-pooling group as a other days will depend on her
tial workers. not sustainable without Congress nonprofit and opening a commu- mother, who is in her late 60s, and
Some districts in Massachu- passing another significant fund- nity center one day. her aunt, who is 70, to make sure
setts are hoping to provide in-per- ing bill.” “I need to leave them with her son follows his online lessons.
son instruction for their most vul- He added: “What terrifies me is someone I trust,” she said of her He has trouble reading and writ-
nerable students, while in Marin the idea of the 10-year-olds who sons, 8 and 11, whom she enrolled ing, and while he has a volunteer
County, Calif., the school system tary and middle school students to as 6,000 students out of a total are going to be home all day in an online charter school after tutor through a nonprofit group, it
will do so with small groups of spe- receive instruction in classrooms 54,000 can go daily to complete watching the 6-year-olds.” the pandemic began because the is only for two hours a week. And
cial education students. A district staffed by district employees and their online schoolwork. Indian- Ms. Rodriguez has so far re- public school’s online program now it is online.
near Denver that is starting the equipped with good internet ac- apolis will provide similar hubs cruited two other families for the seemed so unstructured. “Some- “I hadn’t heard of teachers actu-
year fully remotely is allowing cess. for its homeless students, with babysitting co-op she is creating, one who can just make sure my ally coming to your house and do-
small groups of eligible elemen- San Francisco, aiming for a school workers who can help them called Child Poolers of Northeast kids sign in and get their work ing tutoring,” said Ms. Thompson,
broader reach, is planning to with assignments. New York last Pennsylvania. She made a Face- done.” 38. “If I could afford for someone
Reporting was contributed by Dan transform recreation facilities, li- month announced a plan to offer book page for it and posted a video Some families will get at least to do that with him — which I’m
Levin in New York and Adam braries and community centers free child care, saying it was look- explaining her vision: “tag limited help from organizations quite sure I could not — I surely
Popescu in Los Angeles. into learning hubs, where as many ing for space for up to 50,000 stu- teams” of two to four host parents they relied on before the pan- would take advantage of it.”

CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITIONS

Obesity, Not Just Linked Problems, Raises Infected Men’s Risk of Dying, Study Says
By RONI CARYN RABIN than do men, who tend to have viduals who became very ill were also published in Annals of Inter- records of 6,916 members of the tions have been disproportion-
The coronavirus has been an more visceral and abdominal fat. often obese. nal Medicine, which found that in- Kaiser Permanente Southern Cal- ately stricken by the virus, with
unpredictable foe from the start. It The study was published in An- Only 6 percent of the Chinese dividuals with Covid-19 who were ifornia Health System who were hospitalizations and deaths at
triggers silent or barely percepti- nals of Internal Medicine on population is obese, compared extremely obese were 60 percent treated for Covid-19, both as inpa- higher rates, the study did not find
ble infections in some individuals, Wednesday. with 20 percent of the population more likely to require mechanical tients and outpatients, from mid- race or ethnicity to be an inde-
while in others it sets off a cascade “Body mass index is a really im- in Italy and 24 percent in Spain. ventilation or to die from Covid-19. February to May 2. pendent risk factor.
of complications that overwhelm portant, strong independent risk The United States, by contrast, The study noted that this was also The median age of the patients The researchers did find ex-
the body and lead to death. factor for death among those who has one of the highest rates of the case for people under age 65. was 49 years, and the mean B.M.I. treme obesity to be a strong inde-
Why some patients sail through are diagnosed with Covid-19,” said obesity in the world. “Is it just that we in the United of the patients was 30.6; nearly pendent risk factor for worse out-
the disease and others are felled Sara Tartof, the study’s first au- Some 42 percent of American States have more obese people, so half were obese. comes. “We’re not saying the dis-
by it is a question that has bedev- thor, a research scientist at Kaiser adults have a body mass index of we’re seeing this?” said Dr. David In general, obesity rates vary parities don’t exist — we’re teas-
iled doctors. Permanente of Southern Califor- 30 or more, which classifies them Kass, a professor of medicine at by race and ethnicity, according to ing apart what’s driving the
Older age and chronic health nia. Johns Hopkins University who the C.D.C. The age-adjusted obes- disparities,” Dr. Tartof said.
conditions like high blood pres- But “the impact is not uniform wrote an editorial accompanying ity rate among Blacks is 49.6 per- “We see that racial and ethnic
sure and heart disease are known across the population,” she added. the new study. cent, compared with 45 percent minorities are having more bad
to increase the risk of severe “You don’t really see it for the old- Women carry fat “But this is beyond the propor- among Hispanics, 42 percent outcomes. They are also more
Covid-19. The Centers for Disease er ages, and we didn’t see it as an tion that would just be in the gen- among whites and 17 percent likely to be obese, or to have less
Control and Prevention also lists important risk for females at any
differently, which may eral population,” he said. “It’s not among Asian-Americans. access to health care, and they’re
extreme obesity as a high risk.
But is excess weight in and of it-
age.” explain the disparity. just that there are a lot of fat peo- Just over half of the Kaiser Per- more likely to have co-morbidi-
Obesity and the coronavirus are ple, so we’re seeing a lot of fat peo- manente patients were Hispanic, ties.”
self to blame? Or all of the health a dangerous combination for a ple who are very sick.” about 1,000 were Asian/Asian- Among Covid-19 patients in the
problems that accompany obesity, number of reasons. Dr. Kass wrote a letter in the American, and 584 were Black. study, those with extreme obesity
like metabolic disorders and Obesity causes restricted as having obesity, and 9 percent Lancet in April noting that many Many patients had underlying — defined as a B.M.I. of 40 or more
breathing problems? have a B.M.I. of 40 or more. younger Covid-19 patients admit- health problems that are linked to — were nearly three times at
breathing, making it more difficult
A new study points to obesity it- (Someone who is 5’9’’ tall and ted to American hospitals suf- poor Covid-19 outcomes. Some greater risk of dying than those of
to clear pneumonia and other res-
self as a culprit. An analysis of weighs 270 pounds or more has a 206 — or 3 percent — of the pa-
piratory infections. Fat is biologi- fered from obesity, and predicting normal weight. Those with a
thousands of patients treated at a BMI of 40, according to federal
cally active and a source of pro-in- that as the coronavirus spread tients died within 21 days of re- B.M.I. of 45 were more than four
Southern California health sys- guidelines.) An individual of that
flammatory chemicals, promoting through areas where obesity was ceiving a Covid-19 diagnosis. times more likely to die than pa-
tem identified extreme obesity as height at 304 pounds has a B.M.I.
a state of chronic inflammation in more prevalent, more younger To figure out whether obesity, in tients of normal weight, with the
an independent risk factor for dy- of 45.
ing among Covid-19 patients — the body even before Covid-19 sets people would be affected. and of itself, was associated with a risk most striking among men and
Normal weight ranges from a
most strikingly, among younger in. Obesity causes metabolic The disparate effect on men higher death risk, the researchers those under 60, Dr. Tartof said.
B.M.I. of 18.5 to 24.9; people with
and middle-aged adults 60 and changes and abnormalities, even who are obese is also understand- tried to factor out conditions like The study draws attention to
B.M.I.s of 25 to 29.9 are consid-
younger, and particularly among in the absence of diabetes. ered overweight. able, he said, because of differ- high blood pressure and diabetes, the intersection of two major
men. The study is not the first to fin- A report issued by Public ences in fat distribution. “If you which are known to be associated health concerns, Dr. Tartof said,
Among women with the illness, ger obesity as a culprit in Covid-19 Health England concluded that take a man and woman side by with more severe forms of underscoring the need for policies
body mass index — a measure of deaths in younger people. While overweight and obesity increased side with the same B.M.I., the Covid-19, as well as heart, kidney to tackle both.
body fat based on height and early reports from China and Italy the risk of complications and male is much more likely to have and chronic lung disease. “There is a lot of work we can do
weight — does not appear to be in- did not focus on obesity as an inde- death from Covid-19. Hundreds of the background problems that we The scientists also wanted to to better combat Covid, and a lot
dependently associated with an pendent risk factor, physicians in similar articles on the topic have think are a component for being know whether demographic fac- we can do to improve our strat-
increased risk of dying at any age, other parts of the world, where been published. more at risk,” Dr. Kass said. tors, like age, sex and race or eth- egies on obesity as well,” she said.
the authors said, possibly because obesity is more prevalent, were Among them was a study last To carry out the new study, re- nicity, played a role “It is also an epidemic, and some-
women carry weight differently quick to notice that younger indi- month from Columbia University, searchers analyzed the health While Black and Latino popula- thing we need to pay attention to.”
A8 SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

SERGEI GRITS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Factory workers Friday at a rally outside the Minsk Tractor Works Plant. Workers have threatened to strike unless Belarus calls a new election. Protests continued in Minsk that night.

Workers Join Protests in Belarus, as Leader’s Base Turns Against Him

By IVAN NECHEPURENKO video message. “Most people do not be- them on only to high-ranking members
and ANTON TROIANOVSKI lieve in their victory.” of the Belarusian government.
MINSK, Belarus — The popular upris- Mr. Lukashenko appeared to be still in Later, Belarus’s prime minister, Ro-
ing against President Aleksandr G. Lu- control of his country’s military and pow- man A. Golovchenko came to the factory,
kashenko of Belarus entered a new erful security services, but his position Mr. Drilevsky said.
phase on Friday as protests spread at the has weakened in recent days. A turning “After he refused to respond to our
state-run factories at the core of his polit- point came Thursday, when detained questions in front of the media, we de-
ical base. protesters emerged from jails with grisly cided to start marching toward the main
In one of the most dramatic demon- wounds and tales of brutal beatings and government building,” Mr. Drilevsky
strations, hundreds of workers gathered overcrowded cells. said in a phone interview. Photographs
at the entrance to the Minsk Tractor The police violence gave fresh impetus showed hundreds of factory workers
Works, a Soviet-era industrial giant to a move that some protest organizers marching toward the center of the city.
whose farming machinery is one of Bela- had been calling for on social media all Workers at other factories in Minsk
rus’s best-known brands. They week, initially with little success: a gen- and across the country were also consid-
presented an ultimatum to manage- eral strike. The protests by factory work- ering striking. There was a mass gather-
ment: Unless a new and fair election is ers pose a particular risk to Mr. Luka- ing at the Minsk Automobile Plant on
called, they will go on strike. shenko because state-owned companies Friday, workers said.
“We refuse to go back to work,” said generate more than half of the country’s After the widespread police violence
one of the workers, Sergei A. Drilevsky, industrial output. Keeping Soviet-era in- earlier this week, the authorities pulled
35. “People refuse to have this president. dustrial behemoths out of the hands of back and allowed peaceful protests
He is illegitimate.” business tycoons has been a point of across the country on Thursday. The
Footage of similar protests by transit pride for Mr. Lukashenko, a sharp con- streets of Minsk on Friday were full of
workers and autoworkers, at an oil refin-
ANDREI STASEVICH/BELTA, VIA REUTERS
trast to the “oligarchs” who took over people marching with flowers and wav-
ery, and at factories making synthetic Despite the unrest, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, right, has insisted much of the economy in neighboring ing to passing cars.
fabric, fertilizer and trucks coursed that he will not step down: “I’m alive for now, and I haven’t left the country.” Russia and Ukraine. Some senior officials sounded concilia-
through social media. The flash of dis- Outside the Minsk Tractor Factory, tory notes. Interior Minister Yuri K.
content at state-owned companies — day night. The police did not immedi- results of last Sunday’s presidential elec- workers said that the situation was Mr. Karayev, apologized to those “caught in
making it clear that the opposition to Mr. ately try to disperse the demonstrators tion, which critics saw as rigged. Lukashenko’s own doing. They said they the middle” of what he described as a jus-
Lukashenko has spread far beyond the with violence, which many protesters at- Mr. Lukashenko garnered 80 percent were enraged by law enforcement at- tified police response to violent protests.
urban middle class — appeared to have tributed to the presence of the factory of the votes, the commission said, com- tacks on peaceful protesters, demanded The Interior Ministry also said it was
been driven by accounts of widespread workers. pared with 10 percent for Svetlana G. that all detained demonstrators be re- working to address overcrowding in de-
police violence against protesters. “Thank you, factories,” the protesters Tikhanovskaya, the former stay-at- leased immediately and that riot police tention centers, and that 2,000 people
“These people were worse than the chanted. home mother who has emerged as the be removed from the streets. had already been released.
Nazis,” said Anatoly I. Los, 58, head of The coming days will be critical for Mr. opposition leader. About half of the workers at the fac- Mr. Lukashenko played down the
the electroplating workshop at the Lukashenko, as the authoritarian long Ms. Tikhanovskaya, who supporters tory had walked off the job, Aleksei V. strikes’ size in a televised meeting with
Minsk Tractor Works. “We cannot live known as “Europe’s last dictator” tries to say was forced to leave the country for Pavlovich, a paint shop worker, said Fri- officials from the construction industry,
like this anymore.” cling to power in the face of the biggest Lithuania on Tuesday, called for protests day. More than 15,000 people work at the but warned that the job actions would
Factory workers were followed by popular challenge to his 26 years of rule. this weekend. She described herself the factory, one of the world’s largest benefit Belarus’s economic rivals in Rus-
thousands of protesters who gathered in His government offered conciliatory election’s true victor, called for dialogue producers of agricultural equipment. sia and the West if they continued. He
Independence Square in Minsk on Fri- gestures Friday, pledging to release de- with the authorities and said she was Vitaly M. Vovk, the factory’s manager, opened the meeting with an irritated-
tained protesters, but also making it forming a “coordination council to as- tried to calm people, but was booed after sounding attempt to pierce rumors of his
Ivan Nechepurenko reported from Minsk, clear Mr. Lukashenko had no plans to sure the transfer of power.” he called what was happening an un- imminent demise.
and Anton Troianovski from Moscow. bend to their demands: The Central “Belarus will never again want to live sanctioned rally. He said the workers’ de- “For starters: I’m alive for now, and I
Election Commission announced final under its previous rulers,” she said in a mands were political and he could pass haven’t left the country,” he said.

Landslide in Nepal Kills 11;

Dozens More Feared Dead
By BHADRA SHARMA plagued by landslides during the mon-
KATHMANDU, Nepal — A landslide soon season, which starts in June and
caused in part by unusually heavy rain in lasts until September.
a district of Nepal bordering China bur- But officials said that both the amount
of rain and the death toll from landslides Rescuers from
ied dozens of homes early Friday, killing
at least 11 people and leaving 27 others so far this season had been unprecedent- Nepal’s army
missing, officials said. ed. Nearly 200 people are known to have retrieving bodies
Shreedhar Neupane, a press adviser of the dead from
to the speaker of Nepal’s House of Repre- houses damaged
sentatives, said on Friday that 38 people by the landslide.
in the village of Lidi were believed to A country made
have been buried in the landslide. “The
army has been retrieving dead bodies,”
vulnerable by an
Mr. Neupane said. earthquake in 2015.
He said that 11 bodies had been recov-
ered, and that five critically injured peo-
ple had been airlifted to Kathmandu, the
capital. Thirty-seven homes in the vil- been killed this year, with more than 40
lage, which consists of about 150 houses missing.
built on a steep slope, were buried, and a The district of Sindhupalchok, which
few were swept away, Mr. Neupane said. includes Lidi, sees frequent landslides. It VIA SHREEDHAR NEUPANE

Soldiers, police officers, paramilitaries was one of the worst-hit areas in the dev-
and local residents were mobilized for astating quake of April 2015, which killed in Sindhupalchok since the 2015 quake, cannot just blame nature — the way we said, is that people in hilly regions like
the rescue operation. The House more than 8,700 people in Nepal; of those which they say destabilized the delicate developed our infrastructures, particu- Sindhupalchok tend to grow rice, which
speaker, Agni Prasad Sapkota, accompa- deaths, 3,440 were in Sindhupalchok. local geography. The use of heavy equip- larly roads in quake-destabilized fragile requires more water than crops like
nied rescue personnel to the village by Some of the 37 homes lost in the landslide ment to build roads to remote villages landscapes, is causing frequent cases of maize or barley, leading to soil erosion.
helicopter. Friday had been rebuilt after the 2015 has contributed to the problem, officials landslides,” said Anil Pokhrel, chief exec- He said Nepal would continue to see a
Remote, hilly regions of Nepal, a small quake. say. utive of the National Disaster Risk Re- high death toll from landslides if people
Himalayan nation between India and the Disaster officials in Nepal say that This season’s severe rainfall has made duction and Management Authority. in high-risk settlements like Lidi were
Tibetan region of China, are often landslides have become more common matters worse, officials said. “But we Adding to the problem, Mr. Pokhrel not relocated.
 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N A9

‘Nobody Buys It’: Palestinians Regard Israel-U.A.E. Deal as a Betrayal

From Page A1
another, perhaps even bleaker
prospect of not being counted at
all.
“This agreement is very dam-
aging to the cause of peace,” said
Husam Zomlot, the head of the
Palestinian mission to the United
Kingdom, speaking from London,
“because it takes away one of the
key incentives for Israel to end its
occupation — normalization with
the Arab world.”
“It basically tells Israel it can
have peace with an Arab country,”
he added, “in return for postpon-
ing illegal theft of Palestinian
land.”
Friday’s front pages blared out
the disconnect. Israel’s popular
Yediot Ahronot celebrated the
“historic agreement” and the cut-
price deal of “Peace in Exchange
for Annexation.” But the Palestin-
ian government-run Al-Hayat al-
Jadida went with “Tripartite Ag-
gression Against the Rights of the
Palestinian People,” in angry red
letters.
The emerging Israeli-Emirati
relationship is the most promi-
nent achievement yet of what
Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-
yahu of Israel has called an out-
side-in approach. That has en-
tailed courting the Gulf States —
including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain
and Oman as well as the Emirates
— to quietly come to terms with
Israel and then bring along the
Palestinians, rather than dealing
with the Palestinians first.
The conservative-led Israeli
government has long viewed the
Palestinians as intransigent, and
unwilling or unable to compro- ODED BALILTY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

mise on long-held principles that Tel Aviv City Hall was lit up with the flag of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday as Israel and the Emirates announced “full normalization of relations.”
Israel sees as inflated demands,
casting them as serial quitters of blow to the Palestinians, who re- solved,” said Saeb Erekat, the sec- Agency in Abu Dhabi, one of the been emboldened by the weari- tween Israel and the Emirates all
peace talks. jected the Trump administration’s retary-general of the Palestine seven Emirates. There is also a ness of the wider Arab public with along.
The deal between Israel and the plan for resolving the Middle East Liberation Organization’s execu- synagogue and a resident rabbi the Palestinian cause, and by the But he worried that “this dis-
Emirates also reverses the order conflict as hopelessly biased to- tive committee and its veteran there, Levi Duchman, originally almost apathetic response to ear- traction would allow Israel to fo-
of diplomatic steps envisioned by ward Israel and subsequently chief negotiator. Insisting that ul- from New York. lier moves by the Trump adminis- cus on consolidating its control of
the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, curbed their relations with the ad- timately, the Palestinian question Palestinian relations with the tration — like recognizing Jerusa- the West Bank by building more
a proposal endorsed by the Arab ministration. could not be dismissed or ignored, Emirates, by contrast, have been lem as Israel’s capital and moving settlements and roads,” adding,
League. That proposal called for The Palestinian polity has long he added: “I’m the fact on the sour for almost a decade. Abu the United States Embassy to the “You would have thought that the
Israel to withdraw from occupied been weak, divided between the ground. I’m the real fact on the Dhabi plays host to Muhammad disputed city — that once would U.A.E. would have sweetened the
territories to the boundaries that portions of the West Bank nomi- ground.” Dahlan, a former Gaza security have been explosive. deal with some gestures toward
existed before the 1967 Middle nally controlled by Mahmoud Ab- “There was never a single Emi- chief turned vitriolic critic of Mr. Palestinian analysts said the Palestinians.”
East war and, in return, the Arab bas, the president of the Palestin- rati who fought the Israelis in any Abbas and his nemesis in exile. timing of the latest announcement Some Israelis suggested that
and Islamic nations in the region ian Authority, and his rivals in Ha- war,” Mr. Erekat noted. “There’s Palestinian Finance Ministry probably had most to do with the Mr. Netanyahu may even build
would commit to normalizing rela- mas, the Islamic militant group no war between the Emirates and records indicate that the Emirates coming presidential election in more to placate elements of his
tions with Israel. that dominates the impoverished Israel.” have not sent money to the Ra- the United States. right-wing base angered by his
Mocking old predictions that Is- coastal territory of Gaza. Israel and the Emirates have mallah-based government since “The Gulf countries are inter- failure to fulfill the promise of an-
rael would become increasingly The struggle now is not just quietly cooperated for years on 2014. ested in keeping Trump in power,” nexation.
isolated and face a diplomatic against Israel, but to remain rele- security and trade. Israeli min- “They don’t even invite us to said Ghassan Khatib, a political The Palestinian Authority could
“tsunami” for failing to resolve the vant. isters have openly visited, and Is- their national day,” Mr. Erekat scientist at Birzeit University in also find itself in a bind. Since May,
Palestinian conflict, Mr. Netanya- “Whatever happens, I’m the rael maintains a small office at the said. the West Bank. “They were very to deter Israel from carrying out
hu has instead touted economic only thing that needs to be re- International Renewable Energy The Emirates may also have happy with Trump’s policy on Iran its annexation plans, it has curbed
peace and what he calls T.T.P. — and unhappy with Obama’s. So cooperation with Israel, including
terrorism, technology and peace. they will do anything to contribute security coordination, and has re-
Other countries, including Arab to the re-election of Trump.” fused to accept the tax revenues
ones, he has argued, see Israel as As Oman and Bahrain, along that Israel collects on its behalf
an ally in fighting Islamist terror- with Egypt, praised the deal, and that make up a sizable portion
ism, a source of technological in- many here expected those small of its budget. Annexation is off the
novation and not as the obstacle to Gulf States to be the next to forge table for now, but the authority
peace of old. relations with Israel. may be reluctant to be seen to le-
More broadly, Israel’s agree- In Ramallah, Palestinians de- gitimize the Israel-Emirates deal
ment with the United Arab Emir- nounced the Emirates’ agreement by immediately restoring cooper-
ates reflects the new alliances in with Israel as a shameful betrayal, ation.
the Middle East between coun- but hardly seemed shocked. Soon If there was any upside now, it
tries that feel threatened by Iran. after the announcement on Thurs- may be in staving off an annex-
The Palestinian cause has been day night, about 20 youths and ation that many analysts said
sidelined, leaving the Palestinians men gathered at Ashraf could dash once and for all hopes
feeling isolated and, with the sus- Hamoudeh’s cafe to smoke of a future Palestinian state based
pension of annexation as the justi- narghiles and watch a soccer on the two-state solution, the in-
fication, used as pawns. match. ternationally accepted formula
“MbZ tried to use us as a fig “This agreement will surely for resolving the conflict.
leaf,” said Nour Odeh, a Palestin- harm the Palestinian cause, as But Ms. Odeh, the writer and
ian writer and analyst, referring well as Arab interests,” said Mr. analyst, said that with constant
to Mohammed bin Zayed, the Hamoudeh, 50. “It violates the settlement expansion, a creeping
crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de consensus among all the Arab annexation was already under-
facto ruler of the United Arab countries that no single country way.
Emirates. “Nobody buys it,” she can sign peace agreements with Nothing would change in the
added. “Palestine did not factor Israel unilaterally.” Palestinian stance, or in Israel’s
into this.” Nader Said, a Ramallah-based long-term strategic need to deal
That comes as an additional pollster and president of the Arab with it, she said, adding: “The Pal-
World for Research and Develop- estinians are not going to wither
MUSSA ISSA QAWASMA/REUTERS
Mohammed Najib contributed re- ment, a consulting firm, said the away. We are here and can be
porting from Ramallah, West In Hebron, West Bank, Palestinians watched President Trump on television while following the deal merely makes public and for- quite a nuisance. I think they
Bank. news of the diplomatic deal. Many of them viewed the Emirates agreement as a stab in the back. malizes what was brewing be- should know that by now.”

Francis’ Decision to Let a Polish Archbishop Retire Quietly Angers Abuse Survivors
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO months,” said Zbigniew bishop had been reluctant to look
and ANATOL MAGDZIARZ Nosowski, editor in chief of a Cath- into her claims that she had been
ROME — Pope Francis this olic magazine, and a member of abused as a child by the Rev. Hen-
week accepted the resignation of Hurt in the Church, an organiza- ryk Jankowski, a well-known
the archbishop of Gdansk, Poland, tion that assists pedophilia vic- priest who died a year ago.
who has been accused of protect- tims. Poland’s debate is typical of Ms. Borowiecka said she had
ing priests facing allegations of what has taken place in other “mixed feelings” that Archbishop
child abuse, a step seen as a subtle countries, but it comes “some Glodz had been allowed to resign.
rebuke but also criticized as inad- years later.” “I am happy he is gone,” she
equate. In the 2019 documentary, “Tell said in a telephone interview from
The archbishop, Slawoj Leszek No One,” Archbishop Glodz is Australia, where she lives. “But I
Glodz, had offered his resignation shown at the 2019 funeral of the am disappointed that there has
upon reaching the retirement age Rev. Franciszek Cybula, praising been no punishment for what he
of 75, as protocol demands, but the priest for his “good deeds.” In did, for covering up.”
bishops are typically allowed to the same documentary, Father In April, Archbishop Glodz
keep their positions past that Cybula is secretly recorded admit- opened a commission to study the
time. ting to molesting a 12-year-old accusations against Father
The pope’s decision to accept boy. The priest died before the Jankowski.
Archbishop Glodz’s resignation documentary was released. Last year, three activists top-
on his birthday was interpreted by Other accounts have raised pled a statue of Father Jankowski
many as an admonishment of the questions about Archbishop in Gdansk, and accused Arch-
church hierarchy in Poland, which Glodz’s actions. Abuse survivors bishop Glodz of tolerating the risk
has long been accused of putting named him in a report accusing of there being more victims.
the institution’s image above the several Polish bishops of protect- Rafał Suszek, one of the activ-
rights of abuse victims. ing predator priests, a document ists, said the pope’s decision al-
For some critics, the perceived given to Francis on the eve of a lows the archbishop “to tranquilly
rebuke was too little, too late. global abuse prevention meeting drift toward retirement.”
“It was an insufficient move,” at the Vatican in February 2019. “We are dealing with acts, deci-
AGENCJA GAZETA/REUTERS
said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-direc- Polish news media have re- sions, declarations on the part of
tor of BishopAccountability.org, a Slawoj Leszek Glodz, at lectern, was accused of shielding priests facing child abuse allegations. ported that several priests in the Polish and global Catholic
group that tracks abuse in the Archbishop Glodz’s diocese ac- church that are incommensurate
church. “The Pope has promised mous harm, the penalty should be ical role. Last year, a widely those guilty of these serious cused him of bullying, and ad- to the evil perpetrated,” said Mr.
accountability for bishops who much more severe.” viewed documentary about the crimes are punished,” said the dressed their concerns to the Vati- Suszek, a professor of mathemati-
cover up. He has also talked about The abuse of minors by clerics sexual abuse of children by spokesman, Matteo Bruni. can, which they said never re- cal physics at the University of
proportionality of punishment for in Poland has been documented priests in Poland helped bring the Archbishop Glodz did not com- sponded to their complaints. Warsaw.
accused priests, but this is the by journalists and the church it- issue to the fore. ment this week on his retirement And lawyers for Barbara “I do understand the symbolic
mildest of sanctions.” self for years, but a national reck- “The entire church must do ev- or the broader accusations. Borowiecka, one of Poland’s best nature of accepting his resigna-
She added: “Sure, it probably oning has been slow in coming in erything possible so that the ca- Sexual abuse by clerics has known survivors of clerical abuse, tion,” he added. “But that is just
embarrassed the archbishop, but an overwhelmingly Catholic coun- nonical norms are applied, cases been the subject of “a nationwide have told the Vatican’s Congrega- not good enough as a compensa-
a complicit bishop does such enor- try where the church plays a polit- of abuse are brought to light and debate in Poland now for many tion for Bishops that the arch- tion for the evil done.”
A10 N THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

THE SATURDAY PROFILE

A Somali Colonel’s Quest to Root Out Terror and Ingrained Discrimination

By ABDI LATIF DAHIR
NAIROBI, KENYA

W
HEN Iman Elman decided to
enlist in the Somali National
Army in 2011, the officer
distributing uniforms gave her one
shirt and two pairs of pants. Puzzled,
Ms. Elman asked about the missing
shirt. There was none, he said. The
extra set of pants was provided for her
to sew into a skirt.
Ms. Elman, who was born into a
family of prominent peace and human
rights activists in the Somali capital of
Mogadishu but grew up in Canada, was
19 at the time and wanted to join the
front lines in the country’s fight against
the terror group Al Shabab. A skirt was
not going to do, she thought, and po-
litely declined the second pair of pants.
The incident, she said, served as a
reminder not only of the challenges
awaiting her in the patriarchal world of
the Somali military but also of the
traditional, conservative norms she
would have to overcome.
“We still have a long way to go,” Ms.
Elman remembered thinking at the
time.
Almost a decade later, she is now Lt.
Col. Elman, having risen from foot
soldier and captain, and is in charge of
the army’s planning and strategy —
the only female department head and
one of the highest ranking women in
the Somali military.
As one of just 900 women in an army
of 25,000, she is helping push for ac- LUCA BUCKEN
countability and efficiency in a force
that’s battling one of the deadliest
terror outfits in the African continent.
‘A lot of it was me feeling the need in that moment to prove a point as to what a female can and cannot do.’
In a country where women remain IMAN ELMAN
marginalized politically, economically
and socially, Colonel Elman is also
working to deepen their role and help “Not only do I know that I shouldn’t be refugee status in Canada and was rais- Her sister Ilwad — who was short- represents the true interests of the
move them beyond the menial jobs limited because of my gender, but I feel ing their daughters in Ottawa. Colonel listed for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize — state instead of clan allegiances. She
many are confined to within the armed like I can do just as much if not more Elman said her mother not only re- agrees, saying that while there’s “inten- has also begun an effort to train army
forces. than any of the men.” minded them of their roots but in- tional division” between military solu- officers on human rights and sexual
Colonel Elman was born in Mogadi- grained in them the notion that their tions and civilian approaches, there’s “a assault — something, she said, that was
For decades, Somalia was mired in
shu on Dec. 10, 1991, when Somalia was gender should not limit their ambitions. lot of complementarity in the work that seen as “nearly impossible” to imple-
conflict and chaos, rived by clan war-
beginning to disintegrate. Midway to we do.” ment when she first suggested it to her
lords competing for power and saddled

I
the hospital for delivery, her mother, N 2006, with violence continuing in Sometimes, when her sister comes superiors.
with a series of weak transitional gov-
Fartuun Adan, and her father, Elman Somalia, Ms. Adan returned to Mo- back from the front lines, she said, she
ernments. But Colonel Elman’s journey

A
Ali Ahmed, decided it was too danger- gadishu to head the Elman Peace brings back child soldiers whom the Sthe army’s chief planner, Colonel
into the military began as the country’s center helps reintegrate into society.
ous in their neighborhood to leave her and Human Rights Center, an organiza- Elman is also working to im-
civil war ebbed and a United Nations- Last November, the Elman family’s
two older sisters, Almaas and Ilwad, in tion that is continuing the rights work prove the conditions of women in
backed government took control of the faith in rebuilding Somalia was shaken
the house. They went back and fetched of her husband. In 2010, she was joined the army by instituting quotas in re-
capital. by her daughter Ilwad, and the two after Almaas was killed by an unknown cruitment and training programs and
In 2011, as waves of Somalis from the the girls, not knowing that they would
never be able to return. have focused much of their efforts on assailant. Colonel Elman, who has lost creating an environment to encourage
diaspora returned home, she visited women, children and vulnerable mem- close colleagues in the war and has more women to sign up, including sepa-
Mogadishu and hatched the idea of As the war and the perils intensified,
bers of Somali society. survived three roadside bomb explo- rate washing facilities and places to
joining the army. In discussions with Ms. Adan and Mr. Elman decided the
When in 2011, Colonel Elman, then a sions and countless encounters with the change clothes.
soldiers, however, she was surprised by wisest course was to split: She would Shabab, said she “broke down” after
general arts student at University of Ms. Elman said there is still a long
how quickly the male officers tried to seek refuge abroad with their daugh- the shooting.
Ottawa, opted to join the military, many way to go “in terms of changing the
discourage her, saying that she would ters while he stayed behind to continue were surprised that she was not follow- But after taking two weeks to mourn, mind-set” of people in Somalia around
be assigned only domestic roles like their humanitarian work. ing in her father’s footsteps. But she did “we realized that there was no turning women serving, or holding key posi-
cooking and cleaning. It was a brave decision, but ulti- not see a military career as contradic- back for us,” Colonel Elman said. “We tions, in the army.
Their resistance only steeled her mately a tragic one. On Mar. 9, 1996, Mr. tory to her father’s values and aspira- don’t have that option because we have “You are not exactly sure if the coun-
determination. “That was my driving Elman, who had popularized the slogan tions, she said. already sacrificed so much.” try is ready to have a female general,”
force,” she said in a recent telephone “Drop the gun, pick up the pen,” and “When people look at it, they do see The sisters said they were back at she said. But no matter what, she said,
interview from Mogadishu. who had set up an institute to rehabili- the irony,” she said. “But the reality is their jobs by the end of December. “I am very proud of how far we’ve
“A lot of it was me feeling the need in tate former child soldiers, was fatally that my father and I are both striving For now, Colonel Elman is working come, and even the small milestones
that moment to prove a point as to what shot in Mogadishu. for the same thing. We are both work- on instituting and strengthening re- that we have reached have been quite
a female can and cannot do,” she said. By then, Ms. Adan had received ing for peace.” forms aimed at creating an army that significant.”

Beset by Virus and Floods, U.S. Intercepts Iranian Fuel Bound for Venezuela
North Korea Rejects Aid By LARA JAKES
and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — The United
By CHOE SANG-HUN were driven by fears that a States has seized more than 1.1
SEOUL, South Korea — North Covid-19 outbreak could seriously million barrels of Iranian fuel that
Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, says test its woefully underequipped was headed to Venezuela, officials
the nation is facing “two crises at public health system and its econ- said on Friday, in a high-seas
the same time” — fighting the omy, already struggling under in- handover that blocked two diplo-
spread of the coronavirus and ternational sanctions, analysts matic adversaries from evading
coping with extensive flood dam- said. American economic sanctions.
age. But Mr. Kim has ordered his On Friday, however, North Ko- The transfer of fuel from four
country not to accept any interna- rea lifted the lockdown, “based on Greek-owned ships, occurring
tional aid for fear that outside help the scientific verification and over the past several weeks,
might bring in Covid-19, the state guarantee by a professional anti- risked igniting a tit-for-tat re-
news media reported on Friday. epidemic organization.” sponse from Iran. This week, an
Mr. Kim, who spoke during a The North Korean state news Iranian military unit briefly
meeting of the ruling Workers’ media has long insisted that there boarded a tanker in the Gulf of
Party Politburo on Thursday, said are no coronavirus cases in the Oman in what several American
that he sympathized with the country, although outside experts officials described as a show of
“great pain” of families who had question the claim. The North did force — and, potentially, Tehran’s
lost their homes to the floods and not reveal whether the defector efforts to reclaim any of its fuel
were living in temporary shelters. who crossed back from South Ko- that might be on the ship.
But he said “the situation, in rea had tested positive for the vi- American officials said the four U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
which the spread of the worldwide rus, and officials in the South have tankers — the Bella, the Bering,
malignant virus has become the Pandi and the Luna — were More than 1.1 million barrels of Iranian fuel were seized from four Greek-owned tankers, the Jus-
said there is no proof that he had
worse, requires us not to allow any it. boarded without force after diplo- tice Department said on Friday, blocking Iran and Venezuela from evading U.S. sanctions.
outside aid for the flood damage The global pandemic and creep- matic and legal pressure was
but shut the border tighter and ing flood damage come as Mr. Kim brought to bear against a Greek to extend an arms embargo aboard the four tankers. been supported by payments
carry out strict anti-epidemic has failed to get United Nations shipping magnate, George Gialo- against Iran, a vote the United Officials said Brian H. Hook, the made by banks and companies
work,” according to the North’s of- sanctions lifted through his zoglou. States lost. State Department’s departing that have violated terrorism-re-
ficial Korean Central News stalled diplomatic relations with American officials would not “Neither the ships are Iranian special envoy for Iran policy, re- lated American sanctions against
Agency. President Trump. describe how the high-seas inter- nor their owners or their cargo cently persuaded Mr. Gialozoglou Iran.
The double-whammy calami- By precluding outside aid, Mr. cepts occurred other than to say has any connection to Iran,” Hojat to turn over the fuel. The fuel on With the seizure and transfer of
ties of the pandemic and floods Kim appeared to have denied U.S. military ships were not in- Soltani, Iran’s ambassador to Ven- two of the tankers was seized last Iran’s fuel now made public, a sen-
have exacerbated Mr. Kim’s eco- volved. A warrant dated July 1 ezuela, said Thursday on Twitter, month, and the rest was taken ior American official said that the
Seoul and Washington a chance to
nomic troubles. The North’s econ- that approved the operation said after the seizure news was first re- over the past few days. Pentagon was closely monitoring
thaw relations with the North
omy, already hamstrung by the the fuel could be secured by Amer- ported by The Wall Street Journal. At least two of the ships had Iranian military activity in the
through humanitarian shipments.
sanctions imposed by the United ican government personnel, con- He called the announcement a been in or near the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf for possible retalia-
“North Korea’s rejection of tractors or others appointed by
Nations for its nuclear weapons flood relief is ostensibly to prevent “big lie.” and American officials waited un- tion.
development, has gone into a tail- the court. Over the past two years, as the til they moved far enough away On Wednesday, American
transmission of Covid-19 into the Several weeks ago, after being
spin this year as fear of coro- Trump administration repeatedly from Iranian waters before halt- forces released video of what they
country,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a informed that the fuel shipments
navirus infections cut deeply into placed sanctions on Iran’s oil and ing their transit, seeking to avoid described as Iranian troops climb-
professor of international studies would violate American sanctions
its exports and imports with other lucrative industries, Tehran any chance of a military clash af- ing down a rope from a hovering
at Ewha Womans University in against Iran, U.S. officials said Mr.
China, the country’s primary trad- has been shut out of global mar- ter seizing the fuel. helicopter to board a Liberian-
Seoul. “But humanitarian assist- Gialozoglou agreed to allow
ing partner. kets and faced with economic col- The other two ships were flagged ship, the Wila, in the Gulf
ance is heavily politicized by the American authorities to take the lapse. stopped in the Atlantic Ocean,
An unusually long monsoon of Oman.
Kim regime, as it does not want to fuel. It has found a willing trading where the fuel was offloaded, after The U.S. Central Command,
season, as well as torrential rains
this month, has set off floods and show weakness to the domestic Prosecutors said profits from partner, however, in President exiting the Mediterranean Sea, which oversees American mili-
landslides in both North and population or international ri- the National Iranian Oil Company Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, the officials said. tary forces in the region, called the
South Korea. But the North said vals.” have helped fund Tehran’s elite whose own government has been Meysam Sharifi, an oil trader in Iranian operation “reckless” and a
the natural disaster had damaged North Korea shut down busi- military unit, the Islamic Revolu- crippled by American sanctions Tehran, said the tankers’ only con- violation of commercial shipping
96,300 acres of farmland and ness with neighboring China, tionary Guards Corps, which sup- as the Trump administration nection to Iran was the origin of in international waters. In a state-
16,680 homes, as well as roads, which accounts for nine-tenths of ports Shiite militias in the Middle seeks to push him from power af- the cargo, which was paid for in ment, the military command said
embankments and rail lines. Most its external trade, and clamped East and has been designated a ter widely disputed elections in advance. Iranian-flagged ships it watched the episode from
of the damage was reported in down on smugglers who keep its terrorist organization by the 2018. have previously delivered fuel to nearby, and noted that there were
southern and western provinces, thriving unofficial markets func- Trump administration. Mr. Maduro so far has resisted Venezuela, Mr. Sharifi said. no distress calls from the Wila.
a breadbasket for North Korea, tioning. The country’s exports to “Iran’s not supposed to be doing the pressure campaign to resign. This time, wary of being The Justice Department said
which has suffered chronic food China, hit hard by the border shut- that,” President Trump told re- But skyrocketing gasoline prices stopped as a result of the Ameri- the Iranian naval troops appar-
shortages even during normal down, plummeted to $27 million in porters on Friday. in Venezuela have impeded ac- can court warrant, Mr. Maduro’s ently were looking for their fuel,
years. the first half of this year, a 75 per- Iran denied it had any relation cess to food, jobs, security and government preferred that the but landed on the wrong ship.
North Korea has also taken cent drop from a year ago, accord- to the seized fuel and accused the health care, and could galvanize fuel be delivered on another coun- An Iranian official with knowl-
drastic actions against the coro- ing to the Korea Institute for Na- United States of waging a “psy- the country’s already-simmering try’s vessel, Mr. Sharifi said. edge of the episode said the troops
navirus, sealing its borders in late tional Unification in Seoul. Im- chological war” against the coun- public against the embattled The fuel is worth at least tens of boarded the Liberian ship to re-
January and quarantining all dip- ports from China dropped 67 per- try. The Trump administration an- leader. millions of dollars — money that taliate against the American inter-
lomats in Pyongyang for a month. cent, to $380 million. nounced the transfer operation The intervention announced on officials said could now, once the diction, but ultimately decided
It locked down the border city of About 60 percent of North Ko- the same day it was pushing the Friday was what the Justice De- fuel is auctioned off, be delivered against holding it. The official,
Kaesong last month, suspecting a rea’s population face food insecu- United Nations Security Council partment described as the largest to a government fund for victims who spoke on the condition of ano-
defector who crossed back over rity this year, according to the shipment of fuel ever seized from and their survivors of state spon- nymity, said Iran did not want to
the border from South Korea of United States Department of Ag- Farnaz Fassihi contributed report- Iran. It followed a court warrant to sors of terrorism. That fund, stir tensions on the eve of the
bringing the virus with him. riculture’s Economic Research ing from New York, and David E. allow the United States govern- which is administered by the Jus- arms embargo vote in the Securi-
North Korea’s swift actions Service. Sanger from Weston, Vt. ment to take custody of the fuel tice Department, traditionally has ty Council.
 THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N A11

ARIS MESSINIS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Migrants aboard an inflatable boat heading to the Greek island of Lesbos in March. Under a new conservative government, Greece has secretly expelled more than 1,000 asylum seekers since March.

Illicitly, Greece Expels Asylum Seekers, Casting 1,000 Adrift in Rafts

From Page A1

“Greek authorities do not en-

gage in clandestine activities,’’
said a government spokesman,
Stelios Petsas. “Greece has a
proven track record when it
comes to observing international
law, conventions and protocols.
This includes the treatment of ref-
ugees and migrants.”
Since 2015, European countries
like Greece and Italy have mainly
relied on proxies, like the Turkish
and Libyan governments, to head
off maritime migration. What is
different now is that the Greek
government is increasingly tak-
ing matters into its own hands, OZAN KOSE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
watchdog groups and researchers
say. Migrants sleeping near the Turkey-Greece border Feb. 29 after
For example, migrants have Turkey stopped preventing refugees from crossing to Europe.
been forced onto sometimes leaky
life rafts and left to drift at the bor- Using footage filmed at this site white vessel. Footage subse-
der between Turkish and Greek by two passengers, a Times re- quently published by the Turkish
waters, while others have been porter was able to identify the fa- Coast Guard shows the same two
left to drift in their own boats after cility’s location beside the island’s rafts being rescued by Turkish of-
Greek officials disabled their en- main ferry port and visit the ficials later in the day.
gines. ARIS MESSINIS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES camp. A Coast Guard officer and Migrants have also been left to
“These pushbacks are totally il- A dinghy carrying 54 Afghan refugees landing in Lesbos on Feb. 28. Most of the asylum seekers an official at the island’s may- drift in the boats they arrived on,
legal in all their aspects, in inter- oralty both said the site falls under after Greek officials disabled their
national law and in European
heading to Greece from Turkey now are among the 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
the jurisdiction of the Port Police, engines, survivors and re-
law,” said Prof. François Crépeau, an arm of the Hellenic Coast searchers say. And on at least two
an expert on international law and Guard. occasions, migrants have been
a former United Nations special A Palestinian refugee, living in abandoned on Ciplak, an uninhab-
rapporteur on the human rights of a disused slaughterhouse beside ited island within Turkish waters,
migrants. the camp, confirmed that Ms. al- instead of being placed on life
“It is a human rights and hu- Khatib had been there, recounting rafts.
manitarian disaster,” Professor how he had spoken to her through “Eventually the Turkish Coast
Crépeau added. the camp’s fence and bought her Guard came to fetch us,” said one
Greeks were once far more un- tablets to treat her hypertension, Palestinian survivor who was
derstanding of the plight of mi- which Greek officials had refused among a group abandoned on
grants. But many have grown to supply her. Ciplak in early July, and who sent
frustrated and hostile after a half- On the evening of July 26, Ms. videos of their time on the island.
decade in which other European al-Khatib and the other detainees A report from the Turkish Coast
countries offered Greece only said, police officers loaded them Guard corroborated his account.
modest assistance as tens of thou- onto a bus, telling them they were In parallel, several rights orga-
sands of asylum seekers lan- being taken to a camp on another nizations, including Human
guished in squalid camps on over- island, and then to Athens. Rights Watch, have documented
burdened Greek islands. Instead, masked Greek officials how the Greek authorities have
Since the election last year of a transferred them to two vessels rounded up migrants living le-
new conservative government that ferried them out to sea before gally in Greece and secretly ex-
under Prime Minister Kyriakos dropping them on rafts at the pelled them without legal re-
Mitsotakis, Greece has taken a far Turkish maritime border, she and course across the Evros River,
harder line against the migrants other survivors said. which divides mainland Greece
— often refugees from the war in Amid choppy waves, the group, from Turkey.
Syria — who push off Turkish which included two babies, was Feras Fattouh, a 30-year-old
shores for Europe. forced to drain the craft using Syrian X-ray technician, said he
The harsher approach comes as their hands as water slopped over was arrested by the Greek police
tensions have mounted with Tur- the side, they said. on July 24 in Igoumenitsa, a port
key, itself burdened with 3.6 mil- The group was rescued at 4:30 in western Greece. Mr. Fattouh
lion refugees from the Syrian war, a.m. by the Turkish Coast Guard, had been living legally in Greece
TURKISH COAST GUARD COMMAND
far more than any other nation. according to a report by the Coast since November 2019 with his wife
Greece believes that Turkey Najma al-Khatib, center, and 22 other migrants were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard at 4:30 Guard that included a photograph and son, and showed The Times
has tried to weaponize the mi- a.m. July 27. Greek officials had abandoned them on a life raft without a motor or a rudder. of Ms. al-Khatib as she left the raft. documents to prove it.
grants to increase pressure on Eu- Ms. al-Khatib tried to reach But after being detained by the
rope for aid and assistance in the their boats on Greek soil. quently been forced onto some- ing the advance of the Syrian Greece for a fourth time, on Aug. police in Igoumenitsa, Mr. Fattouh
Syrian War. But it has also added times leaky, inflatable life rafts, Army. Her husband, who had en- 6, but said her boat was stopped said, he was robbed and driven
But experts say Greece’s be-
pressure on Greece at a time when off the island of Lesbos by Greek about 400 miles east to the Turk-
havior during the pandemic has dropped at the boundary between tered several weeks earlier, soon
the two nations and others spar officials, who removed its fuel and ish border, before being secretly
been far more systematic and co- Turkish and Greek waters, and died of cancer, Ms. al-Khatib said.
over contested gas fields in the towed it back to Turkish waters. put on a dinghy with 18 others and
ordinated. Hundreds of migrants left to drift until being spotted and With few prospects in Turkey,
eastern Mediterranean. Some groups of migrants have sent across the river to Turkey.
have been denied the right to seek rescued by the Turkish Coast the family tried to reach Greece
For several days in late Febru- been transferred to the life rafts His wife and son remain in
ary and early March, the Turkish asylum even after they have Guard. by boat three times this summer,
even before landing on Greek soil. Greece.
authorities openly bused thou- landed on Greek soil, and they’ve “This practice is totally unprec- failing once in May because their
On May 13, Amjad Naim, a 24- “Syrians are suffering in Tur-
sands of migrants to the Greek been forbidden to appeal their ex- edented in Greece,” said Niamh smuggler did not show up, and a key,” Mr. Fattouh said. “We’re suf-
year-old Palestinian law student,
land border in a bid to set off a con- pulsion through the legal system. Keady-Tabbal, a doctoral re- second time in June after being in- fering in Greece. Where are we
was among a group of 30 migrants
frontation, leading to the shooting “They’ve seized the moment,” searcher at the Irish Center for tercepted in Greek waters and intercepted by Greek officials as supposed to go?”
of at least one Syrian refugee and Professor Crépeau said of the Human Rights, and one of the first towed back to the Turkish sea bor- they approached the shores of Sa- Ylva Johansson, who oversees
the immediate extrajudicial ex- Greeks. “The coronavirus has to document the phenomenon. der, she said. mos, a Greek island close to Tur- migration policy at the European
pulsions of hundreds of migrants provided a window of opportunity “Greek authorities are now On their third attempt, on July key. Commission, the civil service for
who made it to Greek territory. to close national borders to who- weaponizing rescue equipment to 23 around 7 a.m., they landed on The migrants were quickly the European Union, said she was
For years, Greek officials have ever they’ve wanted.” illegally expel asylum seekers in a the Greek island of Rhodes, Ms. al- transferred to two small life rafts concerned by the accusations but
been accused of intercepting and Emboldened by the lack of sus- new, violent and highly visible Khatib said, an account corrobo- that began to deflate under the had no power to investigate them.
expelling migrants, on a sporadic tained criticism from the Euro- pattern of pushbacks spanning rated by four other passengers in- weight of so many people, Mr. “We cannot protect our Euro-
and infrequent basis, usually be- pean Union, where the migration several Aegean Islands,” Ms. terviewed by The Times. They Naim said. Transferred to two pean border by violating Euro-
fore the migrants manage to land issue has roiled politics, Greece Keady-Tabbal said. were detained by Greek police of- other rafts, they were then towed pean values and by breaching
has hardened its approach in the Ms. al-Khatib, who recounted ficers and taken to a small make- back toward Turkey. people’s rights,” Ms. Johansson
Patrick Kingsley reported from eastern Mediterranean of late. her ordeal for The Times, said she shift detention facility after hand- Videos captured by Mr. Naim on said in an email. “Border control
Rhodes, and Karam Shoumali Migrants landing on the Greek entered Turkey last November ing over their identification docu- his phone show the two rafts being can and must go hand in hand with
from Berlin. islands from Turkey have fre- with her two sons, 14 and 12, flee- ments. tugged across the sea by a large respect for fundamental rights.”
A12 N THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

KYODO NEWS, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Shipping officials in Tokyo apologized last weekend for the spill,

which occurred July 25. About 1,000 tons of fuel entered the sea.

Residents of Mauritius
Unite to Curb Oil Spill
By ABDI LATIF DAHIR “This could have been avoided,”
and ELIAN PELTIER said Ms. Bandhoo, 24, who works
NAIROBI, Kenya — Zareen as an assistant in a food supply
Bandhoo was at work last week in business.
the central Mauritius town of She said that the authorities
Curepipe when she heard that oil “started doing things only when it
was spilling from a ship into the is- was too late, and this is unforgiv-
land nation’s pristine lagoons. able, truly.”
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
The only comfort she could sal-
In the days since, as Mauritius Oil from the Wakashio, a Japanese-owned carrier, tarnishing the waves off Mauritius. The country relies heavily on tourism.
vage from the crisis, she said, was
has confronted one of its worst en-
how citizens have reacted so far.
vironmental disasters, Ms. Band-
“The solidarity of Mauritians individuals, civil society organiza- cruised past the Mauritius area from worries that next time the is- Foundation. “We might see less
hoo has been hard at work. She has been overwhelming,” she
has donated money and food for tions and environmental groups last month — threatening an land could be dealing with a spill successful breeding in birds and
said. mobilized to save the mangrove ecosystem that is vital to the na- from an oil supertanker carrying reptiles, more plants may die,” he
cleanup operations, and has The Wakashio, a Japanese-
teamed with friends and col- forest and coral reefs that give tion’s resilience. hundreds of thousands of tons of added.
owned but Panama-flagged bulk Mauritian waters their rich bio- “The reefs protect us from oil instead of a vessel with thou- For some volunteers, however,
leagues to help limit the damage carrier, held 200 tons of diesel and
to the island’s picturesque coast. diversity. waves, and the sea grass belts and sands. the impact of the oil leak is already
3,800 tons of fuel oil ­— 1,000 of Thousands of volunteers the mangrove play a critical role The Mauritian authorities did evident.
Together, they made makeshift which leaked into the sea. Na-
booms from fabric and sugar cane worked through the night gather- in absorbing carbon dioxide,” he not respond to multiple requests Willow-River Tonkin, a 21-year-
gashiki Shipping, the company ing plastic bottles and skimming said. With their roots covered in for comment this week. Nagashiki old professional kite surfer, said
leaves to contain the oil, collected that owns the vessel, said that oil into barrels, while salons do- oil now, he said, “It’s a tragic story, Shipping said that Mauritian offi- he came down with throbbing
over 460 tons had been manually nated hair and children collected which brings sorrow and anger.” cials had requested compensation headaches after participating in
10 MILES
recovered. But according to satel- straw from fields to help soak up In 2016, Adam Moolna watched from the company, but did not cleaning efforts.
lite imagery, the oil spill covered the oil. Mauritians abroad began as the bulk carrier MV Benita ran elaborate.
AFRICA
AF
A FR
FR
RIC
RICA
CA
CA “I spent three days inside the
an area of over 10 square miles social media campaigns to raise aground on the country’s south- “We are fully aware of the re- oil, breathing it in all day,” Mr.
this week, growing by more than awareness, and hundreds of thou- eastern coast. Although the ship sponsibilities of the parties con-
MAURITIUS
MAUR
AU R
AUR Tonkin said. “It knocked me
eight times since the ship began to sands of dollars were collected on did not spill oil, he said he was in cerned and will respond in good down.” He said he was staggered
Indian leak. fund-raising platforms. “sheer disbelief” at how the au- faith to any damages in accord- by the amount of oil that had been
Ocean The spill could be disastrous for There was “a sense of love for thorities were unable to effec- ance with applicable law,” the shoveled off the shoreline.
Mauritius, whose lagoons, lush the country and trying to save it,” tively detect or intercept ships on company said in a statement.
MAU
MA
M AU R
A RI T IU
RIT USS tropical jungles and mountains at- “You just scoop it up in your
Mr. Dowarkasing said. collision courses with the island. Experts say it may take weeks, hand, and you think, ‘Will this
tracted 1.3 millions visitors in
Curepip
Cure pipe
pe Mauritius sits in the path of “Surely, a lesson should have if not months or more, to see the ever end? Will this ever get bet-
2019. The country has quelled the
trading routes that link Asian been learned from then,” said Mr. full effects of the spill. ter?’ It never stops,” he said.
spread of the coronavirus locally,
Detail
Deta aill ports to Africa and Latin America. Moolna, an environmental lec- “The toxic substances accumu- The authorities have not esti-
area
a rrea
re but the suspension of interna-
Vassen Kauppaymuthoo, an turer at Keele University in Eng- late in the soil and can infect in- mated the financial cost of the
tional flights has battered its tour-
oceanographer and environmen- land. sects, reptiles and plants,” said spill. But the environmental group
ism-dependent economy.
tal engineer on the island, said The current frustrations with Vikash Tatayah, the conservation Greenpeace said in an emailed
The spill is threatening bio-
diversity hot spots, including the that over 2,000 large cargo vessels the government, he said, stem director of the Mauritius Wildlife statement that thousands of
ÎLE
LE
EAAUX
U AIGRETTES Ile aux Aigrettes nature reserve species were at risk, with likely
M AU R IT
T IU
US and Blue Bay Marine Park, a re- “irreversible” damage to the envi-
SHI
SHIP
H RAN
AN AGROUN
O D nowned snorkeling and diving ronment.
area where nearly 40 types of cor- The leak could also affect the
BLUE BAY al and over 70 species of fish livelihoods of the nation’s 1.3 mil-
1 MILE MARINE PARK thrive. lion people, tens of thousands of
The authorities have declared a whom work in the tourism indus-
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“state of environmental emer- try. Tourism accounted for over
Mauritius is known for its gency” and are working with ex- $1.6 billion in revenues in 2018, ac-
snorkeling and diving areas. perts from France, Japan, India cording to the government, but as
and the United Nations to deal hotels and restaurants have re-
with the spill. mained empty for months be-
hair and plastic bottles to absorb
In interviews, many Mauritians cause of the pandemic, many fear
and clean up the slick, scrubbed
accused the authorities of being the oil spill will discourage vis-
contaminated beaches, and raised itors.
awareness online about the extent ill-prepared for such a catastro-
phe, although Mauritius has been Jérémie Wan, the manager of a
of the damage. guesthouse at Pointe d’Esny, near
the site of at least three ship-
Their efforts are representative where the ship ran aground, said
wrecks in the past decade. In the
of the grass-roots initiatives un- days that followed the grounding he had received bookings for Sep-
dertaken by Mauritians amid of the Wakashio, the authorities tember, when Mauritius is ex-
mounting anger and frustration deployed only a few hundred me- pected to reopen its borders to in-
that officials did not act soon ters of booms, environmental ex- ternational visitors.
enough to address the spill — perts said, which was not enough Yet he doubted visitors would
even though the Japanese-owned to contain the spill. come if they knew they would be
bulk carrier ran aground on a cor- “When this leakage started looking at a wrecked ship in front
al reef off the Indian Ocean island there was a sense of revolt within of them.
on July 25. the population,” said Sunil Mok- “We are trying to reassure cli-
shanand Dowarkasing, an envi- ents that they can come next
Abdi Latif Dahir reported from ronmental expert and a former month,” Mr. Wan said in a phone
Nairobi, and Elian Peltier from lawmaker. LAURA MOROSOLI/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
interview, “but I wouldn’t put a
London. Immediately after the accident, Volunteers scooping up oil on the beach. Thousands of people have worked around the clock. foot into the water myself now.”

United Nations Security Council Rejects U.S. Plan to Extend Arms Embargo on Iran
By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the But the American proposal to cepted by the U.S. Navy that were
The United States suffered an United Nations, said Friday night. extend the embargo indefinitely, bound for Iran’s Houthi allies in
embarrassing diplomatic defeat “In the coming days, the United they said, would never have Yemen. Iran has dismissed the al-
on Friday when the United Na- States will follow through on that passed the Security Council be- legations.
tions Security Council rejected a promise to stop at nothing to ex- cause of the threat of a veto by Though Iran initially adhered to
proposal to indefinitely extend an tend the arms embargo.” Russia and China. the terms of the agreement follow-
arms embargo on Iran, with even That could include trying to en- The proposal would have ing the U.S. withdrawal, its lead-
America’s strongest allies refus- force the snapback sanctions uni- needed nine yes votes, and no ve- ers have more recently signaled
ing to buckle under pressure from laterally, without the support of al- toes from the five permanent their displeasure by departing
the Trump administration to take lies. members, to pass. from key provisions, including
a harder line. Secretary of State Mike Pom- “It would therefore not contrib- limits on uranium enrichment and
The defeat underscored Ameri- peo denounced the Security Coun- ute to improving security and sta- the stockpiling of nuclear fuel.
ca’s deepening global isolation on cil’s decision to scuttle the embar- bility in the region,” Jonathan Al- In a sign of the high diplomatic
the issue of Iran. But for the go provision, describing it Friday len, Britain’s permanent repre- stakes surrounding Friday’s vote,
Trump administration, the vote evening as “inexcusable.” While sentative to the United Nations, President Vladimir V. Putin of
could open a separate path to try he did not say specifically that the said in a statement after the re- Russia weighed in beforehand,
to inflict maximum damage on United States would pursue the sults were announced. calling for a special video summit
Iran ahead of November’s U.S. snapback option, he made clear Moreover, critics of the United aimed at preventing “confronta-
presidential election. that the Trump administration LISI NIESNER/REUTERS States position question whether tion and escalation of the situation
For months, Trump administra- had not given up on the issue of in the Security Council.”
Iranian weapons.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called ending the embargo pro- the Trump administration, having
tion officials have warned that if withdrawn from the nuclear ac- The proposed summit, Mr.
“We will continue to work to en- vision “inexcusable.” Only one country voted with the U.S.
the vote to extend the embargo cord, has legal standing in any de- Putin said in a statement, should
failed, the United States would try sure that the theocratic terror re-
bate over its provisions — includ- consist of the leaders of Security
to invoke a provision built into the gime does not have the freedom to 2018, it touched off a diplomatic enna before Friday’s vote. “I
ing the arms embargo and snap- Council member states, plus the
Obama-era nuclear accord to pun- purchase and sell weapons that conflagration that has at times es- mean, that’s just nuts.”
back. Having failed to live up to its heads of Germany and Iran, and
ish any Iranian violations by re- threaten the heart of Europe, the calated toward war. But Mr. Pompeo’s was a lonely
end of the agreement, these critics seek to establish a “comprehen-
imposing all sanctions lifted when Middle East and beyond,” Mr. Since then, Iran has exceeded voice in support of the measure,
say, the Trump administration sive security architecture in the
the deal took effect. That could in- Pompeo said. nuclear enrichment limits set by which had been put forth by the
cannot insist on having a say over Persian Gulf.”
clude the prohibition of not just While Friday’s vote was about the accord and launched covert at- United States.
whether Iran is remaining faithful “No one should resort to black-
arms deals, but also oil sales and the duration of the arms embargo, tacks on American military tar- Of the 15 countries on the Secu-
to the deal. mail or dictate in this region,” Mr.
banking agreements. In theory, all the heart of the dispute between gets, while the United States has rity Council, only one, the Domi-
U.N. members would have to ad- the United States and its oppo- assassinated Iranian military nican Republic, joined the United The State Department is pre- Putin said.
here to the sanctions. nents on the Security Council is leaders and proxies, including States in supporting the proposal. pared to argue that the United Judging from the statements of
The provision, known as a snap- the nuclear deal. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Major U.S. allies — Britain, States remains a “participant Mr. Pompeo and Ms. Craft, the
back, would be devastating for Signed in 2015, the deal freed up Iran’s revolutionary guards. France and Germany — all ab- state” in the nuclear accord that United States has little patience
Iran, which is already struggling the Iranian economy by lifting The arms embargo was de- stained from the vote, making a Mr. Trump renounced — but only for continued debate over the em-
with a moribund economy made sanctions in exchange for Iran signed to prevent Iran from buy- promised veto by Russia and for the purposes of invoking the bargo. Rather, Friday’s vote could
worse by the coronavirus. Pursu- agreeing to halt its nuclear pro- ing and selling weapons, includ- China unnecessary. Of the 15 snapback. be seen more as a diplomatic for-
ing the snapback would also put gram. The deal was President ing aircraft and tanks. It was due countries on the Security Council, In defending its pursuit of the mality the Trump administration
the Trump administration at odds Obama’s signature diplomatic to expire in October, at which Russian and China voted against embargo, Trump administration felt it had to undertake as part of a
with America’s allies, which vehe- achievement, and was backed by point Iran would legally be able to the proposal and 11 countries ab- officials have argued that Iran has broader effort to achieve its ulti-
mently oppose it as legally dubi- some of America’s closest allies, begin replenishing its arms stock- stained. been violating the arms restric- mate goal: killing the nuclear deal
ous and potentially destabilizing Britain, France and Germany, as piles, something the Trump ad- In explaining their decision to tions laid out in the 2015 nuclear once and for all.
to the region. well as its strongest foes, China ministration has said it would not abstain from the vote on Friday, agreement. “The objective is to bury the
“The United States has every and Russia. permit. America’s European allies in- Western intelligence agencies deal and pressure the Iranians,”
right to initiate snapback,” Kelly President Trump came into of- “We can’t allow the world’s big- sisted that they, too, worried along with U.N. officials have de- said Robert Malley, president of
fice vowing to dismantle the deal, gest state sponsor of terrorism to about an Iran with free access to termined that missiles used in an International Crisis Group and a
Farnaz Fassihi, Lara Jakes and insisting he could get a better one. buy and sell weapons,” Mr. Pom- dangerous weapons and ex- attack on a Saudi Arabian oil facili- former coordinator for the Middle
David E. Sanger contributed re- But when he finally withdrew the peo, the administration’s leading pressed hope for further negotia- ty last year were manufactured in East and Persian Gulf region in
porting. United States from the accord in voice on Iran, told reporters in Vi- tions on possible restrictions. Iran, as were weapons inter- the Obama administration.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 A13
N

A Marxist’s Views on Race and Class Expose a Rift Among Socialists

By MICHAEL POWELL
Adolph Reed is a son of the segregated
South, a native of New Orleans who orga-
nized poor Black people and antiwar sol-
diers in the late 1960s and became a lead-
ing Socialist scholar at a trio of top uni-
versities.
Along the way, he acquired the convic-
tion, controversial today, that the left is
too focused on race and not enough on
class. Lasting victories were achieved,
he believed, when working class and
poor people of all races fought shoulder
to shoulder for their rights.
In May, Professor Reed, now 73 and a
professor emeritus at the University of
Pennsylvania, was invited to speak to
the Democratic Socialists of America’s
New York City chapter. The match
seemed a natural. Possessed of a barbed
wit, the man who campaigned for Sena-
tor Bernie Sanders and skewered Presi-
dent Barack Obama as a man of “vac-
uous to repressive neoliberal politics”
would address the D.S.A.’s largest chap-
ter, the crucible that gave rise to Repre-
sentative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and
a new generation of leftist activism.
His chosen topic was unsparing: He
planned to argue that the left’s intense fo-
cus on the disproportionate impact of the
coronavirus on Black people under-
mined multiracial organizing, which he
sees as crucial to health and economic
justice.
Notices went up. Anger built. How
could we invite a man to speak, members
asked, who downplays racism in a time
of plague and protest? To let him talk, the
organization’s Afrosocialists and Social-
ists of Color Caucus stated, was “reac-
tionary, class reductionist and at best,
tone deaf.” ERIC SUCAR/UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

“We cannot be afraid to discuss race Adolph Reed, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, was invited to speak to the Democratic Socialists of America, but the lecture was canceled.
and racism because it could get mishan-
dled by racists,” the caucus stated.
“That’s cowardly and cedes power to the we talk about race too much we will “There’s this insistence that race and Covid-19 isolation and throwing them- alities. While there is a vast wealth gap
racial capitalists.” alienate too many, and that will keep us racism are fundamental determinants of selves into “Defund the Police” and anti- between Black and white Americans,
from building a movement,” said all Black people’s existence.” Trump protests, were angered to learn of poor and working-class white people are
Amid murmurs that opponents might
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a Princeton These battles are not new: In the late the invitation extended to him. remarkably similar to poor and working-
crash his Zoom talk, Professor Reed and
professor of African-American studies 19th century, Socialists wrestled with “People have very strong concerns,” class Black people when it comes to in-
D.S.A. leaders agreed to cancel it, a strik-
ing moment as perhaps the nation’s most and a D.S.A. member. “We don’t want their own racism and debated the extent Chi Anunwa, co-chair of D.S.A.’s New come and wealth, which is to say they
powerful Socialist organization rejected that — we want to win white people to an to which they should try to build a multi- York chapter, said on a Zoom call. They possess very little of either. Democratic
a Black Marxist professor’s talk because understanding of how their racism has racial organization. Eugene Debs, who said “the talk was too dismissive of racial Party politicians, Professor Reed and his
of his views on race. fundamentally distorted the lives of ran for president five times, was muscu- disparities at a very tense point in Amer- allies say, wield race as a dodge to avoid
“God have mercy, Adolph is the great- Black people.” lar in his insistence that his party advo- ican life.” grappling with big economic issues that
est democratic theorist of his genera- A contrary view is offered by Profes- cate racial equality. Similar questions Professor Taylor of Princeton said cut deeper, such as wealth redistribution,
tion,” said Cornel West, a Harvard pro- sor Reed and some prominent scholars roiled the civil rights and Black power Professor Reed should have known his as that would upset their base of rich do-
fessor of philosophy and a Socialist. “He and activists, many of whom are Black. movements of the 1960s. planned talk on Covid-19 and the dangers nors.
has taken some very unpopular stands They see the current emphasis in the cul- But the debate has been reignited by of obsessing about racial disparities “Liberals use identity politics and race
on identity politics, but he has a track ture on race-based politics as a dead-end. the spread of the deadly virus and the po- would register as “a provocation. It was as a way to counter calls for redistribu-
record of a half-century. If you give up They include Dr. West; the historians lice killing of George Floyd in Minneapo- quite incendiary.” tive polices,” noted Toure Reed, whose
discussion, your movement moves to- Barbara Fields of Columbia University lis. And it has taken on a generational None of this surprised Professor Reed, book “Toward Freedom: The Case
ward narrowness.” and Toure Reed — Adolph’s son — of Illi- who sardonically described it as a “tem- Against Race Reductionism” tackles
The decision to silence Professor Reed nois State; and Bhaskar Sunkara, pest in a demitasse.” Some on the left, he these subjects.
came as Americans debate the role of founder of Jacobin, a Socialist magazine. said, have a “militant objection to think- Some on the left counter that Profes-
race and racism in policing, health care, They readily accept the brute reality of
America’s racial history and of racism’s
A Black scholar who says ing analytically.”
Professor Reed is an intellectual duel-
sor Reed and his allies ignore that a
strong emphasis on race is not only good
media and corporations. Often pushed
aside in that discourse are those leftists toll. They argue, however, that the prob- oppression of the poor is a ist, who especially enjoys lancing liber- politics but also common sense organ-
and liberals who say there is too much fo- lems now bedeviling America — such as als he sees as too cozy with corporate in- izing.
cus on race and not enough on class in a wealth inequality, police brutality and larger issue than racism. terests. He wrote that President Bill Clin- “Not only do Black people suffer class
deeply unequal society. Professor Reed mass incarceration — affect Black and ton and his liberal followers showed a oppression,” said Professor Taylor of
is part of the class of historians, political brown Americans, but also large num- “willingness to sacrifice the poor and to Princeton, “they also suffer racial op-
scientists and intellectuals who argue bers of working class and poor white tout it as tough-minded compassion” and pression. They are fundamentally more
Americans. tone, as Socialism — in the 1980s largely described former Vice President Joseph marginalized than white people.
that race as a construct is overstated.
The most powerful progressive move- the redoubt of aging leftists — now at- R. Biden Jr. as a man whose “tender mer- “How do we get in the door without
This debate is particularly potent as
ments, they say, take root in the fight for tracts many younger people eager to re- cies have been reserved for the banking talking race and racism?”
activists sense a once-in-a-generation
universal programs. That was true of the shape organizations like the Democratic and credit card industries.” I put that question to Professor Reed.
opportunity to make progress on issues
laws that empowered labor organizing Socialists of America, which has existed He finds a certain humor in being at- The son of itinerant, radical academics,
ranging from police violence to mass in-
carceration to health and inequality. And and established mass jobs programs in various permutations since the 1920s. tacked over race. he passed much of his boyhood in New
it comes as Socialism in America — long during the New Deal, and it’s true of the (A Gallup poll late last year found that “I’ve never led with my biography, as Orleans. “I came back and forth into the
a predominantly white movement — at- current struggles for free public college Socialism is now as popular as capitalism that’s become an authenticity-claiming Jim Crow South and developed a special
tracts younger and more diverse adher- tuition, a higher minimum wage, re- among people aged 18 to 39.) gesture,” he said. “But when my oppo- hatred for that system,” he said.
ents. worked police forces and single-payer The D.S.A. now has more than 70,000 nents say that I don’t accept that racism Yet even as he has taken pleasure of
Many leftist and liberal scholars argue health care. members nationally and 5,800 in New is real, I think to myself, ‘OK, we’ve ar- late as New Orleans removed memorials
that current disparities in health, police Those programs would disproportion- York — and their average age now hov- rived at a strange place.’” to the old Confederacy, he preferred a dif-
brutality and wealth inequality are due ately help Black, Latino and Native ers in the early 30s. While the party is Professor Reed and his compatriots ferent symbolism. He recalled, as a boy,
primarily to the nation’s history of rac- American people, who on average have much smaller than, say, Democrats and believe the left too often ensnares itself traveling to small New England towns
ism and white supremacy. Race is Ameri- less family wealth and suffer ill health at Republicans, it has become an unlikely in battles over racial symbols, from stat- and walking through cemeteries and
ca’s primal wound, they say, and Black rates exceeding that of white Americans, kingmaker, helping fuel the victories of ues to language, rather than keeping its seeing moss-covered tombstones mark-
people, after centuries of slavery and Professor Reed and his allies argue. To Democratic Party candidates such as eye on fundamental economic change. ing the graves of young white men who
Jim Crow segregation, should take the fixate on race risks dividing a potentially Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, “If I said to you, ‘You’re laid off, but had died in service of the Union.
lead in a multiracial fight to dismantle it. powerful coalition and playing into the who beat a longtime Democratic incum- we’ve managed to rename Yale to the “I got this warm feeling reading those
To set that battle aside in pursuit of hands of conservatives. bent in a June primary. name of another white person’, you tombstones, ‘So-and-so died so that all
ephemeral class solidarity is preposter- “An obsession with disparities of race In years past, the D.S.A. had wel- would look at me like I’m crazy,” said Mr. men could be free,’” he said. “There was
ous, they argue. has colonized the thinking of left and lib- comed Professor Reed as a speaker. But Sunkara, the editor of Jacobin. something so damned moving about
“Adolph Reed and his ilk believe that if eral types,” Professor Reed told me. younger members, chafing at their Better, they argue, to talk of common- that.”

Citing Rules for Grand Jury, The office of Cyrus Vance Jr., the
Manhattan district attorney, says the
president’s legal team is using delay
Manhattan District Attorney tactics to hold on to tax records.

Mr. Vance’s office wrote on Friday that

Digs In Heels on Trump Taxes the president has been “put on notice re-
peatedly throughout this litigation that
the investigation was not limited to Co-
By NICOLE HONG vealed the full scope of the investigation. hen’s 2016 payments,” pointing to com-
and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM Grand jury proceedings are, by law, con- ments last year by a federal judge who
The Manhattan district attorney’s of- ducted in secret. called the investigation “very complex”
fice said on Friday that President Trump In limited circumstances, the recipient and extending over “many, many years.”
was not entitled to learn more about the of a subpoena may force more details Even if Mr. Vance were to successfully
scope of its criminal investigation into about the investigation to be disclosed obtain Mr. Trump’s tax returns, they
his business dealings, rejecting Mr. through a specific legal process — but would be protected by grand jury se-
Trump’s latest effort to block a subpoena only after offering evidence that a sub- crecy rules. They might never become
for his tax returns. poena was issued in bad faith, the office public unless the district attorney’s of-
said. Even in that case, the target of the fice brought charges and introduced the
The office of the district attorney, Cy-
investigation likely would not learn the documents as evidence at trial.
rus R. Vance Jr., wrote in a pair of new
details, and the information would not Mr. Vance issued his subpoena after
court filings that Mr. Trump should be become public. federal prosecutors in Manhattan com-
treated like any other recipient of a sub-
The president “seeks an end run RICHARD DREW/ASSOCIATED PRESS
pleted their own investigation into the
poena, who is typically unable to access around this process,” the office wrote. hush payments. The federal investiga-
details of secret grand jury proceedings. had demanded tax documents dating to cused on hush-money payments made in
Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance have been tion resulted in a guilty plea by Mr. Co-
The filing came in response to Mr. 2011. the run-up to the 2016 presidential elec-
locked in battle for almost a year over the hen, who admitted to campaign finance
Trump’s renewed efforts this month to demand for the president’s tax returns. In the letter earlier this week, Mr. tion to two women who said they had af-
violations and other crimes in connec-
stop Mr. Vance’s prosecutors from ac- The latest back-and-forth follows a de- Trump’s lawyers argued that the pros- fairs with Mr. Trump. The payments tion with the payments made to the two
cessing eight years of his personal and cision by the Supreme Court, which last ecutors should be required to show how were arranged by Michael D. Cohen, the women.
corporate tax returns. month ruled against Mr. Trump, who had each item requested in the subpoena was president’s former lawyer. Both Mr. Trump and the company re-
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump’s lawyers asked the court to block the subpoena. In relevant to their investigation and within But this month, in response to Mr. imbursed Mr. Cohen. Mr. Vance’s investi-
said in a court filing that the subpoena a 7-to-2 ruling, the justices rejected the their jurisdiction. Trump’s argument that the subpoena gation has been exploring, in part,
was too broad and amounted to illegal president’s argument that he was im- Mr. Vance’s office has accused the was “wildly overbroad,” Mr. Vance’s of- whether the reimbursements violated
harassment. They wrote a letter to a mune from all criminal proceedings president’s legal team of using delay tac- fice said it had a wide legal basis to obtain any New York State laws.
Manhattan federal judge asking for a while in office, but opened the door for tics to slow the investigation until the the financial records. Federal prosecutors said in a court fil-
hearing to discuss whether Mr. Vance’s him to challenge the subpoena on other statute of limitations on any potential The office suggested in a court filing ing last summer that they had “effec-
office should be forced to disclose the jus- grounds. crimes runs out. that it was investigating the president tively concluded” their investigation into
tifications for the subpoena. In their new arguments this month, When the Manhattan district attor- and his company for possible bank and possible crimes committed by the presi-
Mr. Vance’s office said on Friday that Mr. Trump’s lawyers said the subpoena ney’s office subpoenaed the president’s insurance fraud, a much broader investi- dent’s company, the Trump Organiza-
Mr. Trump was essentially complaining was so broad that it was tantamount to a accounting firm, Mazars USA, in August gation than prosecutors had acknowl- tion, or its executives. Neither the com-
that prosecutors had never publicly re- political fishing expedition. Prosecutors 2019, the investigation appeared to be fo- edged in the past. pany nor any of its leaders were charged.
A14 N THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

Election The Running Mate

Falsehoods Proliferate Since she became a candidate

for vice president, Kamala Har-
ris has gotten over 3,200 men-

Online About Harris.

tions per hour on social media.

thousands of times, according to

Here Are 3, Debunked.

the Times analysis. The posts re-
ferred to Rachel Dolezal, a former
official at the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored
By DAVEY ALBA The PizzaGate Conspiracy Theory People who was later revealed to
As soon as Joseph R. Biden Jr. On Wednesday, a day after Mr. Bi- be white and was charged in 2018
announced that he had selected den announced his selection, the with welfare fraud.
Senator Kamala Harris of Califor- falsehood that Ms. Harris is con- Whitney Phillips, an assistant
nia as his vice-presidential run- nected to a child-trafficking con- professor at Syracuse University
ning mate, internet trolls got to spiracy known as PizzaGate was who teaches digital ethics, said
work. published on the conspiracy-mon- she was “absolutely not sur-
Since then, false and misleading gering website Infowars, which prised” by the viral misinforma-
information about Ms. Harris has set off a round of sharing on social tion questioning Ms. Harris’s her-
spiked online and on television. media. itage.
The activity has jumped from two PizzaGate hinges on the base- “Regardless of political party,
dozen mentions per hour during a less notion that Hillary Clinton sexism and racism have long been
recent week to over 3,200 per hour and Democratic elites ran a child fixtures in American public life,”
in the last few days, according to sex-trafficking ring through a Ms. Phillips said.
the media insights company Zig- Washington pizza restaurant. Ac-
cording to the rumors about Ms. Jussie Smollett
nal Labs, which analyzed global
television broadcasts and social Harris, she is tied to the conspir- One of the most convoluted lies
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
media. acy because her sister was invited that has spread on social media in-
Much of that rise is fueled by by John Podesta, Ms. Clinton’s ing partners to determine which heritage — in particular that she is ing users to click past a label not- volves the actor Jussie Smollett
fervent supporters of President presidential campaign manager, claims they rate, and they take a “not Black” — were among the ing that third-party fact checkers and the baseless allegation that
Trump and adherents of the extre- to a “Hillary pizza party” in 2016. number of factors into considera- most widely spread misinforma- found “this information has no ba- Ms. Harris is his aunt and knew in
mist conspiracy movement By Friday mor ning, more than tion.” She acknowledged that as of advance that Mr. Smollett was
tion that Zignal Labs tracked. sis in fact.”
QAnon, as well as by the far left, 4,200 tweets discussed the un- Friday afternoon, there were no planning to stage an assault
Since Tuesday, the argument had Ms. Harris, the daughter of Ja-
according to a New York Times founded theory about Ms. Harris’s fact-checks on the widely shared against himself early last year.
been mentioned over 40,000 maican and Indian immigrants,
analysis of the most widespread connection to PizzaGate, accord- posts falsely tying Ms. Harris to According to the unsubstantiat-
times, the company found. was born in 1964 in Oakland, Calif.,
falsehoods about Ms. Harris. On ing to Dataminr, a social media PizzaGate. ed narrative, when the Chicago
“Kamala Harris is not an Amer- a few years after her parents ar-
Thursday, Mr. Trump himself en- monitoring service. Twitter said on Friday that it Police Department and the F.B.I.
ican Black,” said one tweet that rived in the United States. Accord- investigated the alleged assault,
couraged one of the most persist- On Facebook, users in dozens of permanently suspended people collected 2,300 likes and shares af- ing to The Associated Press, Ms. Ms. Harris appeared in Mr. Smol-
ent falsehoods, a racist conspir- QAnon groups and pages posted associated with QAnon who used ter it was first posted on Wednes- Harris has long identified as lett’s phone records, so she must
acy theory that Ms. Harris is not about the rumor. The falsehood many different accounts or tried day. “She is half Indian and half Ja- Black; she was not sworn into have been in on the hoax.
eligible for the vice presidency or reached up to 624,000 people, ac- to evade a previous suspension.
cording to The Times’s analysis. maican. She is robbing American Congress identifying only as Indi- The right-wing website True
presidency because her parents “We deploy a number of tools to
On Instagram, which Facebook Blacks of their history. Kamala is an-American. In interviews, Ms. Pundit published an article push-
were immigrants. add context to and address misin-
owns, 77 more posts tried to as Black American as Obama.” Harris has regularly spoken about ing this argument in November.
“Sadly, this wave of misinfor- formation,” including applying la-
spread the lie further. In a Facebook post on Tuesday how her mother, who was from In- The article gained new promi-
mation was predictable and inev- bels, not recommending tweets
itable,” said Melissa Ryan, chief And on YouTube, a QAnon chan- night, Candace Owens, a right- dia, raised her as Black. nence on social media this week,
and limiting the reach of tweets, a
executive of Card Strategies, a nel with over 100,000 followers Twitter spokesman, Trenton Ken- wing commentator, posted a Ms. Owens said in an email on shared nearly 2,000 times on Twit-
consulting firm that researches pushed the conspiracy, too. “Re- nedy, said. widely shared post questioning Friday: “It is absurd to censor a ter and reaching 180,000 people,
disinformation. member, we know what pizza was YouTube said Friday that it was Ms. Harris’s heritage. “I am SO truth followed by a future guess. according to CrowdTangle, a tool
Here are three false rumors code language for,” Daniel Lee, a reducing the spread of borderline EXCITED that we get to watch This is why I am already in legal to analyze interactions across so-
about Ms. Harris that continue YouTube personality popular in content on the video site, includ- Kamala Harris, who swore into proceedings with Facebook fact- cial networks.
circulating widely online. conspiracy circles, told his audi- ing QAnon content, but that the congress as an ‘Indian-American,’ checkers. They have now begun A February 2019 article on Fact-
ence. The video was viewed video flagged by The Times did now play the ‘I’m a black a wom- censoring statements that were Check.org concluded that there
30,000 times. not violate its guidelines. an’ card all the way until Novem- never said.” was no relation between Ms. Har-
Sheera Frenkel contributed report- A Facebook spokeswoman, Liz ber,” she wrote. Other memes on Facebook la- ris and Mr. Smollett, and that evi-
ing. Ben Decker contributed re- Bourgeois, said in an email on Fri- Harris’s Heritage Facebook soon added a fact beling Ms. Harris as “Kamala dence of her role in the hoax was
search. day that “it’s up to our fact-check- Falsehoods about Ms. Harris’s check to Ms. Owens’s post, requir- Dolezal” were liked and shared nonexistent.

Trump Turns to a Racist Trope Weighted With a Far-Reaching History

From Page A1
Black women who are perceived
as angry by dismissing them as
shrews whose opinions do not
count because they are pushed to
rage by everything, and nothing.
“If you don’t grant us a degree
of emotional complexity, then you
don’t have to take us seriously, as
leaders or as a constituency that
has value,” said Brittney Cooper, a
professor at Rutgers University
and the author of “Eloquent Rage:
A Black Feminist Discovers Her
Superpower.” “White supremacy
is lazy and unoriginal,” she added,
“and doesn’t feel the need to as-
cribe humanity to Black women.”
Ms. Harris has not responded to
Mr. Trump’s language, but the Bi-
den camp released a statement
Friday that referred to Mr.
Trump’s “clumsy, bigoted lies.”
The statement from Andrew
Bates, a Biden spokesman, said
the president was “proving that
he’s dumbfounded after Joe Bi-
den’s selection of a strong running
mate who he himself said not two
weeks ago would be a ‘fine
choice.’”
The Trump campaign did not
respond to requests for comment
on the president’s remarks.
Serena Williams did not directly
address the stereotype in 2018,
when an Australian cartoonist
drew global ire by depicting her,
with exaggerated features, as CBS, VIA GETTY IMAGES NBC, VIA GETTY IMAGES
throwing a tantrum on the court.
Ms. Williams was fresh off her loss Ernestine Wade as Sapphire with Tim Moore as Kingfish on “Amos ’n’ Andy.” LaWanda Page as Aunt Esther with Demond Wilson as Lamont in “Sanford and Son.”
to Naomi Osaka at the U.S. Open,
where she had heated words with Show” and the character Sapphire ter in “Barbershop”), until “Sap- ior of the Black female body.” Trump reacted to her book, “Un- cause of her race. She played her
an umpire. She noted, when criti- Stevens, played by Ernestine phire” became its own category. Long before she was on reality hinged: An Insider’s Account of “docile” instead, she said in an in-
cism surfaced of her remarks, that Wade. She was the emasculating It’s the woman with the smacking TV, Omarosa Manigault Newman the Trump White House,” by refer- terview, though she recognized
she had only complained in a way and volatile foil of her husband, retort, the flip side of categorizing learned she had to walk a fine line ring to her as “that dog.”) that some audience members
that white male players have been Kingfish. Both characters were Black men as physically threat- between being perceived as Some creators have aimed to would still view her as the villain.
doing, with impunity, for decades. written largely by white men. ening, except when they are at the strong versus aggressive, she has give context by exploring origins In another role several years
In her book “Becoming” and in The character type was rep- mercy of Sapphires. said. On the first season of “The of women’s fury (“Waiting to Ex- earlier, in Broadway’s “Caroline,
2016 interviews with Oprah Win- licated on other television series In the ’70s, the trope morphed Apprentice” — where she was the hale”) or satirizing clichéd por- or Change,” Ms. Pinkins said that
frey and others, Michelle Obama (the dominating Aunt Esther in into the gun-toting sex objects of sole Black woman — she was trayals of it (“The Boondocks,” she felt it necessary to express the
described how hurt and bewil- “Sanford and Son,” the glowering blaxploitation films — drawn as packaged as a villain, opposite Mr. “Dear White People”). The depths unadulterated pain and rage of
dered she was after being por- Pam James on “Martin”) and in taboo figures, Professor Dyson Trump, whom she later worked of the cliché are hard to shake. her character, Caroline, a single
trayed as an angry Black woman films (Terri, the fiery female cut- said, “to control the outlaw behav- for briefly as an adviser. (Mr. In 2014, a New York Times tele- mother making $30 a week doing
during President Obama’s first vision critic invoked the ster- housework for a family.
presidential campaign. eotype in an article about the “That’s a place where I feel that
“That’s the first blowback, be- work of Shonda Rhimes, the TV I got to be the ‘angry Black wom-
cause you think, wow, that is so ‘White supremacy is lazy and unoriginal and doesn’t feel the need writer and producer. Its opening an’ and it was incredibly powerful
not me,” she told Ms. Winfrey. line: “When Shonda Rhimes and healing for people to see,” she
“But then you sort of think, well, to ascribe humanity to Black women.’ writes her autobiography, it said.
this isn’t about me. This is about Brittney Cooper, a professor at Rutgers and author of ‘Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower’ should be called ‘How to Get Away In pop music, Black women
the people who write it. And then With Being an Angry Black Wom- have turned anger into a potent,
you start thinking, ‘Oh wow, we an.’” Criticism came quickly, in- anthemic tool, acknowledging and
are so afraid of each other.’ ” cluding from Ms. Rhimes. (The subverting stereotypes.
Though the exact origins of the writer, Alessandra Stanley, de- In a quickly iconic moment
trope are unclear, scholars believe fended the article.) from her visual album “Lem-
the concept sprang from the post- For Black artists, the choice to onade,” Beyoncé struts down the
bellum South, an outgrowth of the portray a character who could be street in a flouncy gold gown ac-
mammy archetype — a strong, de- read as rageful is doubly fraught. cessorized with a baseball bat,
sexualized authority figure who Tonya Pinkins, the Tony Award- shattering car windows like it’s a
ruled households assertively. “In winning actress, has rejected and release and whacking open a fire
some cases that sassiness kind of embraced so-called “angry Black hydrant with a gleaming smile on
borders on anger,” said David Pil- woman” roles onstage. her face — all to the delight of
grim, a sociologist and the In the 2015 Off Broadway play other Black women on the street.
founder of the Jim Crow Museum, “Rasheeda Speaking,” a dark “Mad,” a deceptively sweet
a compendium of racist memora- comedy about office racism, she track from Solange’s 2016 album
bilia housed at Ferris State Uni- played a receptionist whose boss “A Seat at the Table” — itself a
versity, where he is vice president searches for a reason to fire her by meditation on the pain, and exu-
for diversity and inclusion. having a white colleague monitor berance, of Black identity — is a
The stereotype has been pro- her behavior. Friction ensues. validation, and a rebuke, of how
moted on film and television since Ms. Pinkins said she fought off women’s emotions are presented.
at least the 1950s, with the TV ar- suggestions that she play it tough “I got a lot to be mad about,” she
rival of “The Amos ’n’ Andy in the role because she knew that sings, with a chorus of female
it would only encourage the audi- voices echoing, and then con-
Alain Delaquérière and Susan PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT/HBO
ence to tap into the trope and see cludes, “But I’m not really allowed
Beachy contributed research. Beyoncé shattered car windows in a quickly iconic moment from her visual album “Lemonade.” her as the villain of the play be- to be mad.”
 K THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N A15

Election Ballots and City Hall

Business Leaders Look As President Casts Doubt,

For Candidate to Back New Jersey Announces
In Next Mayoral Race Vote-by-Mail Expansion
By TRACEY TULLY crease voters’ trust in the process
By DANA RUBINSTEIN next mayoralty. Mr. Doctoroff said New Jersey voters will for the as well as provide opportunities
he is not part of Mr. Ross’s fund- first time cast their ballots for for them to troubleshoot issues be-
With less than a year before the
raising effort. president predominantly by mail fore Election Day.
Democratic mayoral primary,
The goal of Mr. Doctoroff’s Co- in November. For example, if a voter’s signa-
New York City’s business leaders
alition for Inclusive Growth would Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Demo- ture was being challenged, the
are actively plotting how best to
be to develop and release a policy crat, announced Friday that the person would be alerted while
use their influence and money to
framework for the city’s future, KENA BETANCUR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
upcoming general election would there was still time to cure the
shape the race to become Bill de
Blasio’s successor. and to do so by Jan. 15, six months Daniel L. Doctoroff, a tech executive and former deputy mayor, be conducted using mostly mail-in problem.
Stephen M. Ross, whose Relat- before the 2021 Democratic may- wants to create a nonprofit group on policy for New York City. ballots to ensure voters’ and poll “Just like tracking an Amazon
ed Companies is building the big- oral primary. The primary is likely workers’ safety during the pan- package,” she said, “you can see
gest mixed-use private real estate to determine New York City’s next demic. where your ballot is at every mo-
mayor and the composition of out-the-vote operations. In his draft charter, Mr. Docto- ment.”
development in the United States, Mr. Doctoroff said in an inter- roff seemed to acknowledge the The governor, citing the success
has floated the idea of helping to much of New York’s City Council. of the state’s predominantly vote- Last month’s vote-by-mail elec-
The pandemic has temporarily view that he has already spoken city’s changed environment, say- tion drew the second-highest level
raise $100 million for the right can- with many of the likely mayoral ing that the “the benefits and costs by-mail primary election last
didate in the 2021 mayoral race, decimated New York City’s month, said all 6.3 million New of voter participation for a New
health, its economy and its mor- candidates about his idea. He has of growth” — the focus of the Jersey primary, but it was not
according to two people involved personal relationships with sev- Bloomberg administration — Jersey voters would be sent bal-
in those discussions. ale. Companies large and small lots to return either by mail, in without snags.
are reconsidering their need for eral of them, including Shaun “were not shared fairly.” County clerks complained
Mr. Ross, along with his friend Donovan, who worked with Mr. “We both have to grow and person or into secure drop boxes.
Daniel L. Doctoroff — a former New York office space. Well- “Making it easier to vote does about supply-chain shortages of
heeled New Yorkers are leaving Doctoroff in the Bloomberg ad- we’ve got to do it in a more fair
deputy mayor and the chief execu- not favor any one political party,” envelopes. Some voters got the
the city. ministration before joining the way,” Mr. Doctoroff said in the in-
tive of Sidewalk Labs, the tech Mr. Murphy said, “but it does fa- wrong ballots; other ballots never
In the last two years, the Demo- Obama cabinet, and Ray McGuire, terview. “We need a more compre-
company affiliated with Google — vor democracy.” reached voters. A glitch involving
cratic Socialists of America have a Citigroup executive who is re- hensive, shared prosperity model.
are concerned that the city’s eco- New Jersey joins a growing a bar code caused some ballots to
animated much of the intellectual portedly considering a run for The question is, what does that
nomic woes could endanger New number of states that have shifted be returned in the mail before be-
ferment in city politics, gaining a mayor. Mr. McGuire and Mr. Doc- mean?”
York City, home to their invest- to mail-in ballots to minimize the ing counted.
foothold after helping propel Alex- toroff attended Harvard Univer- Mr. Doctoroff planned to share
ments and their legacies. risks posed by the coronavirus, An aide to Mr. Murphy said the
andria Ocasio-Cortez into Con- sity together, Mr. Doctoroff said. the leadership of the nonprofit, in-
A spokesman for Mr. Ross, a even as President Trump contin- governor had held high-level con-
gress. In the recent Democratic Before the pandemic struck, the dicating that he realized that he, a
fund-raiser for President Trump, ues to sow doubt, claiming with- versations with representatives of
primary, several D.S.A.-backed mayoral race was thought to be white male business executive,
said he has made no financial out evidence that the process is the Postal Service to try to safe-
candidates unseated incumbents primarily a three-way contest should not lead the “inclusive” en-
commitments nor raised any plagued by fraud. Voters in at guard against similar problems
in the State Legislature. among Eric Adams, the Brooklyn deavor alone. He also acknowl-
money for such an effort, but that least eight other states and Wash- leading up to the Nov. 3 election.
Mr. Doctoroff’s nonprofit could borough president; Corey John- edged that he has entertained the
Mr. Ross believed there was an ington, D.C. — an estimated 38 There was also a lag time in col-
serve as something of a counter- son, the Council speaker; and idea of running for mayor, but said
overwhelming sense that some- million people — are also being lecting and counting the mail-in
point. Among other things, the co- Scott M. Stringer, the city comp- it was never a serious considera-
thing needs to be done. mailed ballots to cast votes in No- primary ballots, which had to to be
alition would focus on stabilizing troller. But the outbreak, as well as tion.
“Like many New Yorkers, vember. postmarked by July 7; the official
the city’s budget, improving pub- the social unrest brought by the “My experiences are not repre-
Stephen Ross is deeply concerned Mr. Murphy said the state results of all the races were not
lic health, eliminating disparities George Floyd protests, has sentative of others,’ ” he said. “And
about our recovery from the pan- would build on the lessons learned certified until last week.
in the criminal justice system and seemed to open up the field. I think if we are not, in terms of the
demic and the future of the city, Two weeks ago, Maya D. Wiley, during the July 7 primary, the first Still, the winners of most races
turbocharging the development of formation of this coalition, incred-
which is deeply troubled right a former top counsel for Mayor de broad test of voting by mail in were clear within hours or days,
affordable housing. ibly inclusive, then it’s a failure
now,” said the spokesman, Jon Blasio, left her role as a contribu- New Jersey. Election officials will much sooner than some people
Mr. Doctoroff, a former private from the very beginning.”
Weinstein. tor on MSNBC and NBC News to expand the number of secure loca- had anticipated. Ms. Kennedy’s
equity executive, said he has yet Christina Greer, a political-sci-
Mr. Ross, who has also donated explore a run for mayor; she is tions for in-person delivery of bal- most formidable Democratic op-
to raise any money for the non- ence professor at Fordham Uni-
to Democrats, has no preference well regarded among progressive lots and open more polling sites ponent, Brigid Callahan Harrison,
profit, which he described as in a versity, said many New Yorkers
as to a mayoral candidate’s party Democrats and would be ex- for voters to complete provisional conceded the race about 20 min-
“nascent stage.” A draft charter would be skeptical of “equitable”
affiliation, his spokesman said. pected to focus on race and crimi- ballots on Election Day. utes after polling locations closed.
for the organization, which has policies emerging from Bloom-
Mr. Ross has also been advising nal justice issues. berg administration veterans. Ballots will be mailed the first Elizabeth Matto, director of
Mr. Doctoroff, a Democrat who been circulating among some of week of October, and all schools — Rutgers University’s Center for
his friends and advisers, esti- In the current political climate, “So many of Bloomberg’s poli-
served as deputy mayor under it is not clear if business leaders cies were to create a specific vi- the site of many polling locations Youth Political Participation, said
Michael R. Bloomberg, on a pro- mates a preliminary budget of $10 — will be closed for in-person it would be crucial for New Jersey
million. It says that additional like Mr. Ross and Mr. Doctoroff sion of New York that was not wel-
posal that Mr. Doctoroff is drafting can change the conversation, or coming to the poor or working classes on Nov. 3. and other states that are relying
to create a nonprofit organization fund-raising will be necessary for “You should be checking your heavily on mail-in ballots to invest
disseminating the plan and get- help push a mayoral candidate of poor New York class,” Professor
to help shape an agenda for the their choice into office. Greer said. mailbox,” said Tahesha Way, sec- in “extensive, accurate, nonparti-
retary of the Department of State. san” voter education, especially in
“And if it is the second week of Oc- areas hardest hit by Covid-19.
“People shouldn’t have to chose
Postal Service Says Ballots May Fail to Arrive in Time
tober and it hasn’t arrived — do
something.” between voting and their health,”
Ms. Way also asked “young, Professor Matto said.
healthy” individuals to consider But she said it would also be im-
serving as Election Day poll work- portant to provide ample in-per-
From Page A1 son voting options, especially in a
ers, and she noted that New Jer-
quested more information from sey residents on probation or par- presidential election when turn-
Vermont and Washington, D.C. ole are now eligible to vote under a ing out to the polls can be a point of
The other 45 states, he told them law that took effect in March. pride.
in the letters, face the risk that the In addition to the presidential “You want to go get the sticker,”
timetables set by their laws could contest, voters in New Jersey will she said. “You want to take your
leave some voters unable to get be deciding whether to legalize kids into the voting booth.”
their ballots postmarked by Elec- the recreational use of marijuana But the success of New Jersey’s
tion Day or received by election after legislative initiatives failed. shift to a predominantly mail-in
boards in time to be counted. They will also be voting on sev- election will depend on persuad-
The letters prompted some eral hotly contested congressional ing enough people to cast ballots
states to consider changes that races, including a battle in South by mail to avoid long lines that
would give voters more time to Jersey between Representative could increase the spread of the
vote by mail or ensure their ballot Jeff Van Drew, a turncoat Demo- virus.
would be counted. And their re- crat who voted against the presi- Mr. Trump has assailed the
lease intensified the criticism di- dent’s impeachment before pledg- Postal Service in recent months,
rected at the Postal Service and ing loyalty to Mr. Trump, and Amy growing increasingly critical of
Mr. Trump by Democrats and vot- Kennedy, a former teacher who is mail-in voting and issuing re-
ing rights advocates, who say the married to Patrick Kennedy, a peated warnings about the possi-
president is deliberately stoking nephew of President John F. Ken- bility of election fraud.
unfounded concerns that voting nedy. On Thursday, he repeated an
by mail will lead to fraud and mis- Officials on Republican-led unfounded claim that the election
counts as a way to cast doubt boards in Warren and Morris could be rife with fraud if mail bal-
about the outcome of the election. Counties have already expressed lots were widely used. And he
Word that the letters had been opposition to relying nearly en- made clear that he opposed Dem-
sent across the country, first re- RUTH FREMSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES tirely on mail-in ballots in Novem- ocratic demands for additional
ported by The Washington Post, A worker processing ballots in Renton, Wash. The agency planned to remove 671 sorting machines. ber. funding for the post office to en-
came as the Postal Service’s in- “It’s a costly and inefficient way sure it had the capacity to effi-
spector general said she had be- to run an election,” said Jason ciently process an increased vol-
state, which had more than 1.5 mil- most of the letter was a warning ment. ume of mail.
gun an investigation into the post- Sarnoski, a Republican member of
lion mail-in ballots in the primary, about pre-existing deadlines, and In June, union officials received The comments came amid
master general, Louis DeJoy, a the Warren County Board of Cho-
and that the office would continue that the state would only have to a notice that Postal Service man- growing scrutiny of the postmas-
Republican megadonor and sen Freeholders. “We’re going to
to advocate for Pennsylvania resi- adjust its ballots that go out later agement was removing 671 ma- ter general, Louis DeJoy, a Repub-
Trump ally who was appointed in see additional problems and de-
dents to use voting by mail. than the initial batch. Washington, chines used to sort mail quickly lican donor.
May. layed results.”
Richard Fiesta, the executive a vote-by-mail state, mails ballots because of a “reduction to letter
Democrats in Congress who He noted that long lines have The issue has also become grist
director of the Alliance for Retired to its 4.6 million voters about 20 and flat mail volume.”
had urged the inspector general been permitted to form outside re- in fund-raising appeals to Demo-
Americans, which had filed a re- days before the election, but ad- Mail operations in several bat-
inquiry said they expected it to en- opened government agencies like crats. In a fund-raising email, a
lated lawsuit seeking to ensure dress changes are accepted up to tleground states were hit hard by
compass operational changes to the Department of Motor Vehi- group founded by Democratic
voting rights, called the letter eight days beforehand. the cuts. On the list for removal
the mail service imposed by Mr. cles. “It’s not like he’s got the members of the House of Repre-
“nothing short of outrageous.” In Colorado, a state that votes were 24 delivery bar code sorters D.M.V. closed anymore, and you sentative’s Committee on Veter-
DeJoy and questions about his almost entirely by mail, the secre-
personal finances, including his “A government agency is taking in Ohio, 11 in Detroit, 11 in Florida, see the lines there,” Mr. Sarnoski ans’ Affairs, Go for Broke for Vets,
proactive steps to make voting by tary of state, Jena Griswold, said nine in Wisconsin, eight in Phila- said. asserts that the president and his
ownership of stock in a Postal she was “very concerned” about
Service contractor and options in mail harder,” he said, adding that delphia and five in Arizona. A May special election for Pat- allies are trying to “undercut, un-
the Postal Service was trying to the Trump administration’s ac- In July, Postal Service manage- der fund” and weaken the Postal
a competitor. erson City Council, which was
“deprive people the ability to tions at the Postal Service. ment sent to employees a “man- Service, one of the nation’s largest
In response to the warning let- conducted using mail voting at the
make sure their ballot is counted “The president has shown a de- datory” order called, “Pivoting for height of the pandemic, led the employers of veterans.
ters, some states, including Penn- gree of disrespect to this country
sylvania and Michigan, have on time.” Our Future.” In the memo, the state attorney general to charge Mr. Murphy said the state was
In another battleground state, that is just un-American,” Ms. Postal Service said it was banning four men with ballot fraud. They offering several ways for voters to
called for extensions on counting Griswold said. “There is some-
late-arriving ballots in the No- Wisconsin, which suffered a practice of postal workers mak- were accused of fraudulently col- personally deliver their ballots, in
through some postal delays dur- thing that we should all be able to ing daily additional trips beyond lecting groups of ballots and deliv- part because of concerns about
vember election. agree on and that is well function-
“We have asked the Legislature ing its primary in April, changing their initial runs in an effort to ering them to be counted. Mr. the Postal Service.
the deadlines would require an act ing elections.” save some $200 million. Trump has referred to the Pater-
to change Michigan law to allow “The Postal Service and its nec-
of the Legislature. Given that the In California, the state is plan- Last week, the Postal Service son arrests on Twitter.
ballots postmarked by Election essary funding is being turned
Republican-controlled body was ning on expanding its already am- Amber McReynolds, chief exec-
Day that arrive within a certain put in place a hiring freeze and into a political football by those
ple and aggressive voter informa- utive of the National Vote at Home
window to be counted,” said Tracy unwilling to move the April elec- canceled promotions for non- who simply don’t believe in ex-
tion program. Institute, applauded New Jersey’s
Wimmer, a spokeswoman for tions amid the peak of the pan- unionized workers. panding ballot access,” he said.
“Am I concerned? Yes. But am I initiative to expand access to vot- “We will not let these political is-
Michigan’s secretary of state, Jo- demic, there is little hope it would Mr. Trump has repeatedly made
panicking? No,” said Alex Padilla, ing. But she said she had urged sues disenfranchise voters, or
celyn Benson. convene a special session now. unfounded claims that mail-in vot-
the California secretary of state. the state to implement an elec- suppress anyone’s ability or right
In Pennsylvania, the secretary Instead, the Wisconsin Election He said that new policies this year ing will lead to widespread fraud,
of state, Kathy Boockvar, asked a Commission is planning to mail and has pointed to delays in count- tronic ballot tracking system to in- to vote.”
that allowed for a 17-day cushion
court to allow eligible ballots to be voting-information packets along for ballots to be received if they ing in some primary elections this
counted if they are postmarked by with the absentee ballot requests were postmarked by Election Day year as evidence that the general
Election Day and received by the forms to 2.6 million registered vot- should help the state weather any election could be chaotic.
following Friday. ers in September. major delays at the post office. But Even as he assailed the prac-
“The letter made clear that the “It strongly encourages those voters should still know not to tice, Mr. Trump and his wife, Mela-
Postal Service is experiencing sig- who choose to vote absentee by take the potential delays lightly. nia Trump, requested mail-in bal-
nificant delays with mail delivery mail to request absentee ballots “Every time anybody attacks lots in Florida, according to Palm
and expects this problem to con- and return them as soon as possi- the integrity of vote by mail or Beach County records.
tinue through Election Day,” Ms. ble,” said Meagan Wolfe, the ad- makes false claims about the in- Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen-
Boockvar said in a statement. ministrator of the Wisconsin Elec- tegrity of our elections, voter edu- ator Chuck Schumer of New York
“The department’s action is sim- tions Commission. cation becomes that much more issued a joint statement on Friday
ple in its goal — to prevent the dis- After receiving the letter this important and we’re going to be condemning Mr. Trump’s “attacks
enfranchisement of eligible Penn- week, Kim Wyman, the Republi- committed to do that,” Mr. Padilla on vote by mail.”
sylvania voters.” can secretary of state in Washing- said. “The president’s comments to-
She added that her office con- ton, said she was “highly con- Mr. DeJoy has argued that he is day affirm that no patriotic tradi-
tinued to have “great confidence” cerned” and immediately con- modernizing the money-losing tion is immune from his abuse of
in the vote-by-mail system in the vened a meeting with local and na- agency to make it more efficient. power,” they said. “The president
tional Postal Service Among his moves have been cuts made plain that he will manipu-
Luke Broadwater and Hailey representatives and Washington to overtime for postal workers, re- late the operations of the post of-
POOL PHOTO BY CHRIS PEDOTA
Fuchs reported from Washington, election lawyers. strictions on transportation and fice to deny eligible voters the bal-
and Nick Corasaniti from New Ms. Wyman said that after the the reduction of the quantity and lot in pursuit of his own re-elec- Governor Phillip D. Murphy said that all of New Jersey’s 6.3 mil-
York. meeting, it became clearer that use of mail-processing equip- tion.” lion voters would be mailed ballots for November’s election.
A16 N THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 K

McConnell Appears Set to Let Long-Debated Surveillance Bill Wither

By CHARLIE SAVAGE material omission and one ma-
WASHINGTON — Every few terial misstatement, but also said
years since Congress passed the it did not think either made a legal
Patriot Act to bolster F.B.I. sur- difference.
veillance powers after the Sept. 11, But the F.B.I. has also conceded
2001, terrorist attacks, parts of it that it should not have applied for
came up for renewal and national two renewals of the Page wiretap
security hawks darkly warned in 2017, and it has tightened its
that even briefly letting them own rules and procedures for
lapse would unacceptably endan- drafting FISA applications. A
ger America. FISA court judge also imposed ad-
This year is different. ditional safeguards. But Congress
Those provisions expired has not enacted anything.
months ago, but one of the biggest The expired provisions are un-
surveillance supporters in Con- related to the type of wiretaps
gress, Senator Mitch McConnell, used in the Russia investigation,
Republican of Kentucky and the but the bill has become a vehicle
majority leader, has single-hand- for addressing those problems.
edly brought the process of ex- Both the House and the Senate
tending them to a halt. have attached different versions
After the House and Senate of a provision to more frequently
passed slightly different versions appoint an outside critic to ana-
of a bill in May, Speaker Nancy lyze a government’s application in
Pelosi appointed a group of House certain types of cases, including
members to a conference commit- those that could touch on a politi-
tee to reconcile them. But Mr. Mc- cal campaign.
Connell has not appointed any But civil-libertarian-minded
senators to it, and the process has lawmakers have also been trying
been stuck there ever since. to use the bill to impose other new
On Thursday, Mr. McConnell privacy safeguards. A majority in
closed the Senate for its annual the Senate backed banning the
August vacation, meaning that use of one part of FISA — the
the legislation will remain on ice partly lapsed provision that per-
for at least another month. He has mits the F.B.I. to obtain business
given no sign that he intends to records without a warrant — for
move forward when Congress gathering internet search histo-
briefly reconvenes before ad- ries and browsing records.
journing again ahead of the No- For procedural reasons, that
vember election. idea fell short despite majority
Mr. McConnell’s office has de- ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES support. When the bill returned to
clined to answer questions about Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has given no indication that he intends to address surveillance legislation. the House, Ms. Pelosi came under
why he is keeping the measure in pressure to permit a vote on the
indefinite limbo. But others in- same idea. But the version that
volved in the process have sug- vestigations. But the White House
has offered no specific proposal or
and Attorney General Barr are
willing to wait for months to ad-
ended umbrella investigations
into all the major national security
Each chamber has came to the House floor was wa-
gested that Mr. McConnell may be tered down, losing the support of
paralyzed by two factors. guidance about what he would be dress it, and still appear to have no threats facing the United States, passed a version, but civil libertarians.
willing to sign. Complicating mat- plan for moving forward,” Senator such as terrorist groups like Al
First, President Trump, stoking
his grievances over the Russia in- ters, Attorney General William P. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, Qaeda and the Islamic State and they sit unreconciled. Mr. Trump then came out
against the bill for different rea-
vestigation — a small part of Barr opposes the current versions said in a statement to The New nation-state adversaries like Rus- sons, and many of his Republican
which involved wiretapping a for- as going too far in the opposite di- York Times. sia and China. As a result, until a allies abandoned it, too, leading
mer campaign aide under the For- rection of tying the hands of F.B.I. But there is a catch to the cur- new rival arises who cannot be tions used in the Russia investiga- the House to instead send a previ-
eign Intelligence Surveillance agents fighting terrorism and es- rent stalemate: The expired sur- characterized as part of the old tion to wiretap a former Trump ously passed version to the con-
Act, or FISA — has threatened to pionage. Mr. McConnell shares veillance powers have not lapsed ones, the bureau may be able to campaign adviser with ties to ference committee to be recon-
veto the bill, saying more time those concerns. for existing investigations. continue business as usual. Russian officials, Carter Page, ciled with the Senate version —
should first be spent scrutinizing With no clear path to avoiding a Congress specified that the But the bill’s collapse also were riddled with errors and where it has since remained in
the officials who pursued the Rus- veto confrontation with Mr. powers would remain available means Congress has been unable omissions. limbo, waiting for senators to
sia inquiry. Trump, and no great love for ei- for investigations that already ex- to enact a legislative response to A follow-up review by the in- show up.
Mr. Trump’s stance has vaguely ther version of the bill anyway, Mr. isted at the point the laws expired. an inspector general’s finding of spector general that looked at the “It’s clear there is a large bipar-
suggested that the existing bills, McConnell appears to have de- Among them are the F.B.I.’s ability serious problems with the F.B.I.’s F.B.I.’s preparations to apply for tisan majority in both the House
which have some efforts at re- cided that leaving the provisions to obtain business records use of the main part of FISA for 29 unrelated FISA wiretaps found and Senate for reforming FISA
form, do not go far enough in cur- lapsed and doing nothing is the deemed relevant to a national se- wiretap orders in counterespion- that there were problems with all and the Patriot Act,” Mr. Wyden
tailing the F.B.I.’s surveillance least-bad course of action. curity investigation, and to get age and counterterrorism investi- of them, suggesting systemic said. “Even Donald Trump agrees
powers for national security in- “After they spent years insist- special wiretap authority to rap- gations. sloppiness. The Justice Depart- that reform is needed, Leader Mc-
ing that the Patriot Act was essen- idly follow a suspect who changes A report by the Justice Depart- ment has since told the FISA court Connell and A.G. Barr should al-
Nicholas Fandos contributed re- tial to protecting America, it’s phone lines to evade monitoring. ment’s independent inspector that its own further review of low a real debate on reforming
porting. striking that Mitch McConnell The F.B.I. has existing, open- general found that the applica- those 29 applications found one government surveillance.”

Ex-F.B.I. Lawyer Expected to Plead Guilty in Review of Russia Inquiry

By ADAM GOLDMAN
WASHINGTON — A former
F.B.I. lawyer intends to plead
guilty after he was charged with
falsifying a document as part of a
deal with prosecutors conducting
their own criminal inquiry of the
Russia investigation, according to
his lawyer and court documents
made public on Friday.
The lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith,
38, who was assigned to the Rus-
sia investigation, plans to admit
that he altered an email from the
C.I.A. that investigators relied on
to seek renewed court permission
in 2017 for a secret wiretap on the
former Trump campaign adviser
Carter Page, who had at times CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

provided information to the spy F.B.I. headquarters in Washington, left. The C.I.A.’s relationship
agency. Mr. Clinesmith’s lawyer with Carter Page, above, who was a Trump campaign adviser in
said he made a mistake while try- 2016, was the subject of the document that had been altered.
ing to clarify facts for a colleague.
President Trump immediately
promoted the plea agreement as to wiretap Mr. Page, the inspector going to be lost.”
proof that the Russia investiga- general wrote. By changing the In another text, he wrote, “viva
tion was illegitimate and political- email and then forwarding it, Mr. le resistance.”
ly motivated, opening a White Clinesmith misrepresented the Mr. Clinesmith told the inspec-
ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES
House news conference by calling original content of the document, tor general that he was express-
Mr. Clinesmith “corrupt” and the which prosecutors said was a ing his personal views but did not
leagues as he believed the infor- the election and the Trump cam- Mr. Page had for years provided
deal “just the beginning.” Mr. crime. let them affect his work.
mation he relayed was accurate. paign’s expectation that it would information to the C.I.A. about his
Trump has long been blunt about benefit from foreign involvement, contacts with Russian officials. In Mr. Clinesmith’s argued that he Mr. Clinesmith also argued
But Kevin understands what he
viewing the investigation by the Republicans have seized on a nar- C.I.A. jargon, he was known as an did not change the document in an against the prospect of wiretap-
did was wrong and accepts re-
prosecutor examining the earlier row aspect of the inquiry — the in- operational contact — someone attempt to cover up the F.B.I.’s ping another former Trump cam-
sponsibility. ”
inquiry, John H. Durham, as politi- vestigation into Mr. Page — in a who agrees to be debriefed by mistake. His lawyers argued that paign adviser, George Papado-
Mr. Clinesmith, who resigned
cal payback whose fruits he would long-running quest to undermine agency personnel but cannot be he had made the change in good poulos, who served two weeks in
over the matter last year, was ex-
like to see revealed in the weeks it. assigned to collect information. faith because he did not think that jail on a charge of lying to the
pected to be charged in federal
before the election. An energy executive with con- That relationship might have Mr. Page had been an actual F.B.I., according to the Horowitz
court in Washington with a single
Attorney General William P. tacts in Russia, Mr. Page was given law enforcement officials source for the C.I.A. report. The inspector general said
felony count of making a false
Barr has portrayed Mr. Durham’s brought on to advise the Trump reason to be less suspicious of Mr. Clinesmith’s lawyers also the bureau never sought to surveil
statement. A spokesman for Mr.
work as rectifying what he sees as campaign in the spring of 2016 as him. And the F.B.I. was told about argued that their client did not try him.
Durham declined to comment.
injustices by officials who sought the candidate was solidifying his it: A C.I.A. lawyer provided a list to hide the C.I.A. email from other The prosecution of Mr. Cline-
Mr. Barr had previewed the law enforcement officials as they
in 2016 to understand links be- unexpected lead in the Republi- of documents in the August 2016 smith is just one aspect of Mr.
agreement on Fox News’ “Han- sought the final renewal of the
tween the Trump campaign and can primary race and scrambled email at the heart of the case Durham’s expansive investiga-
nity” on Thursday night, announc- Page wiretap. Mr. Clinesmith had
Russia’s covert operation to inter- to cobble together a foreign policy against Mr. Clinesmith that ex- tion. He has also been examining
fere in the election. team. plained Mr. Page’s relationship provided the unchanged C.I.A. the intelligence community’s
Mr. Clinesmith had written Investigators eventually sus- with the agency. email to Crossfire Hurricane most explosive conclusion about
agents and the Justice Depart- Russian interference in the 2016
texts expressing opposition to Mr.
Trump. But prosecutors did not
President links the pected that Russian spies had
marked Mr. Page for recruitment.
But an F.B.I. case agent who
learned about Mr. Page’s ties to ment lawyer drafting the original election: that President Vladimir
reveal any evidence in charging deal to the ‘corrupt’ They first obtained permission the C.I.A. played them down while wiretap application.
Mr. Clinesmith had also urged
V. Putin intervened to benefit Mr.
Trump.
documents that showed Mr. Cline- from the secretive Foreign Intelli- preparing the first wiretap appli-
smith’s actions were part of any Russia investigation. gence Surveillance Court in Octo- cation, according to the inspector investigators to send any informa- Mr. Durham has also been scru-
broader conspiracy to undermine ber 2016 to wiretap Mr. Page, who general’s report. At the time, Mr. tion about an informant’s meeting tinizing the F.B.I.’s use in the wire-
Mr. Trump. And the Justice De- had left the campaign by then, and Clinesmith was not involved in de- in October 2016 with Mr. Page, in- tap applications of a notorious
partment’s independent inspector the court agreed to extend the or- termining whether Mr. Page was a cluding any exculpatory state- dossier that was compiled by a
general, Michael E. Horowitz, has ing that a development would oc- C.I.A. source, people familiar with ments, to the Justice Department British former intelligence officer,
der three times in subsequent
found that law enforcement offi- cur in the investigation on Friday. months. the case said. lawyer drafting the wiretap appli- Christopher Steele. “The F.B.I.
cials had sufficient reason to open “It’s not an earth-shattering de- After Republicans raised con- But later in 2017, a supervisory cation. Mr. Clinesmith said this has been, and will continue to be,
the Russia investigation, known velopment, but it is an indication cerns about the information that F.B.I. agent handling the third and was “probably the most impor- fully cooperative with Mr.
inside the F.B.I. as Crossfire Hur- that things are moving along at investigators relied on to seek the final renewal application asked tant” information to provide to the Durham’s review,” a press repre-
ricane, and found no evidence that the proper pace, as dictated by the court’s approval to eavesdrop on Mr. Clinesmith for a definitive an- lawyer drafting the wiretap appli- sentative for the bureau said in a
they acted with political bias. facts in this investigation,” he Mr. Page, Mr. Horowitz began an swer on whether Mr. Page had cation. statement. “This includes provid-
As part of their efforts to dis- said. exhaustive review of the process. been an agency source, according Mr. Clinesmith was among the ing documents and assigning per-
suade prosecutors from charging It is highly unusual for law en- In a report made public last to Mr. Horowitz’s report. F.B.I. officials whom Mr. Mueller sonnel to assist his team.”
Mr. Clinesmith, his lawyers ar- forcement officials to publicly dis- year, Mr. Horowitz revealed that Mr. Clinesmith incorrectly said removed from the Russia investi- Mr. Durham, who has previ-
gued that his motives were be- cuss ongoing investigations, but the applications were riddled with that Mr. Page was “never a gation after Mr. Horowitz found ously investigated F.B.I. and
nign, and other evidence indi- Mr. Barr has long made clear his serious errors and omissions. source” and sent the C.I.A.’s infor- messages they had exchanged ex- C.I.A. abuses, has not tipped his
cated that he had not tried to hide distaste for the Russia investiga- Among other things, he had mation to the supervisor. He al- pressing political animus against hand at what he has found, though
the C.I.A. email from his col- tion and his view that Mr. Durham learned of a troubling series of tered the original email to say that Mr. Trump. Shortly after Mr. Mr. Barr has said some of the find-
leagues, would remedy any issues with it. events in which Mr. Page’s associ- Mr. Page had not been a source — Trump’s election victory, Mr. Cli- ings are “troubling.” Mr. Durham
“Kevin deeply regrets having Though the sprawling Russia ation with the C.I.A. was not accu- a material change to a document nesmith texted another official: “I has said in a rare statement that
altered the email,” Mr. Cline- investigation that was eventually rately conveyed to the Justice De- used in a federal investigation. honestly feel like there is going to he disagreed with some of Mr.
smith’s lawyer, Justin Shur, said in run by a special counsel, Robert S. partment and ultimately kept The agent relied on the altered be a lot more gun issues, too, the Horowitz’s conclusions about how
a statement. “It was never his in- Mueller III, uncovered the Krem- from the judges who approved the email to submit the application crazies won finally. This is the tea and why the F.B.I. opened the in-
tent to mislead the court or his col- lin’s complex operation to subvert surveillance warrants. seeking further court permission party on steroids. And the GOP is quiry in the summer of 2016.
 THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N A17

President Visits Homeland Security Leaders Ascended Illegally, G.A.O. Says

Ailing Brother By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
WASHINGTON — President
Hospitalized Trump’s top two officials at the
Department of Homeland Securi-

In New York ty are illegally serving in their po-

sitions, with appointments that vi-
olated the laws governing who
By ANNIE KARNI can fill Senate-confirmed posts,
WASHINGTON — President according to a report released Fri-
Trump visited his younger day by the Government Account-
brother, Robert S. Trump, on Fri- ability Office.
day at NewYork-Presbyterian Chad F. Wolf, the acting secre-
Hospital in Manhattan. tary of homeland security, and
Robert Trump, 72, two years Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, his deputy
younger than the president, has at the sprawling agency, are serv-
been ailing for months and is said ing in violation of the Federal Va-
to be gravely ill. He was also hos- cancies Reform Act, which speci-
pitalized in June. fies orders of succession when
“I have a wonderful brother,” senior officials resign, according POOL PHOTO BY TONI SANDYS T.J. KIRKPATRICK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
the president said Friday during a to the G.A.O., Congress’s nonpar-
news conference at the White tisan watchdog. Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, left, and his deputy, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, are serving in violation of the Fed-
House. “We’ve had a great rela- The report said the improper eral Vacancies Reform Act, which applies to the succession of senior officials, according to the Government Accountability Office.
tionship for a long time, from Day appointments began after Kirst-
1, a long time ago, and he’s in the jen Nielsen was forced out of of- cinelli. In a statement, the watch- curity Act to designate its acting leader, said that any policy deci- more loyal to the president and his
hospital right now, and hopefully fice as the department’s secretary dog said that it was referring the secretaries,” Judd Deere, a White sions made by Mr. Wolf or Mr. Cuc- agenda than the civil servants
he’ll be all right.” But the presi- in April 2019. issue to the Department of Home- House spokesman, said. “G.A.O. is cinelli should be nullified, and that who were in line to take on the act-
dent added that Robert Trump “Because the incorrect official land Security’s inspector general not. And G.A.O.’s opinion substi- the men should step down. ing positions.
was “having a hard time.” assumed the title of acting secre- tuting its views for that of the “President Trump’s efforts to In the cases of Mr. Wolf and Mr.
and to Congress, which could try
Kayleigh McEnany, the White tary at that time, subsequent agency’s is not only wrong, but install political sycophants to im-
to force their removals. Cuccinelli, the report found that
House press secretary, added in amendments to the order of suc- plement his extreme policies in an
Legal experts said the report laughable.” the administration improperly
an email that “Robert is very spe- cession made by that official were end run around the law and Sen-
would help bolster several court The White House has ignored skipped over the proper individ-
cial” to the president. She did not invalid,” the Government Ac- ate have finally caught up with
cases, including the one in Judge such findings before. Last year, an ual to succeed Ms. Nielsen — the
say why Robert Trump was in the countability Office said on Friday. him,” Mr. Schumer said in a state-
Moss’s court, in which the ap- independent government agency director of the Cybersecurity and
hospital. The agency said that Mr. Wolf and ment. “The determination by an
Upon landing in New York City, pointments are being challenged. said Mr. Trump should fire Infrastructure Security Agency —
Mr. Cuccinelli “are serving under independent congressional and instead installed Kevin
Mr. Trump posted on Twitter that “Holy cow: The *GAO* has de-
an invalid order of succession.” watchdog today invalidates ac- McAleenan, the commissioner of
he was there to visit his brother, termined that Chad Wolf was not
The report follows a similar tions Mr. Cuccinelli and Mr. Wolf Customs and Border Protection,
but he added a plug for his re-elec- lawfully named the Acting Secre-
tion campaign by attaching a pho-
finding in March by a federal
judge, who ruled that Mr. Cuc-
tary of Homeland Security, and The White House have taken and both should imme-
diately step down from their ille-
to serve as acting secretary.
tograph of the front page of The that @HomelandKen (who al- When Mr. McAleenan later re-
New York Post that featured an in-
cinelli’s appointment violated fed-
ready is using an inappropriate ti- ignored the law to fill gal roles.” signed, the Government Account-
eral law and that two policies he The Vacancies Reform Act pro- ability Office said, the administra-
terview he gave to the newspaper.
“We’re going for New York on No-
put in place while he served in the tle) wasn’t lawfully appointed
even to his *proper* position at
two top roles. vides specific rules for how senior tion’s subsequent moves involv-
position should be nullified. positions at federal agencies can ing Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuccinelli
vember 3rd,” the president DHS,” Stephen I. Vladeck, a law
“Cuccinelli’s appointment fails be filled temporarily when a top were “also improper because they
tweeted. He was at the hospital for professor at the University of
to comply with the F.V.R.A. for a official leaves. It requires that relied on an amended designation
just under an hour. Texas at Austin, whose work in- Kellyanne Conway, his White
more fundamental and clear-cut only certain officials in a depart- made by Mr. McAleenan.”
As the youngest son in the strict cludes studying the Vacancies House counselor, for repeated vio-
reason,” the judge, Randolph D. ment’s existing chain of command
household of Fred C. Trump, Act, wrote on Twitter. lations of an ethics law, the Hatch
Moss of the United States District can be tapped as “acting” leaders
Robert Trump was shielded from “This is a remarkably big deal,” Act, which bars partisan politics
Court in Washington, said in his while a president seeks Senate
some of the pressure exerted by
his disciplinarian father over his ruling. he added. from the federal workplace. The confirmation of a permanent re- Corrections
The Government Accountabil- In a statement, the White House recommendation by the agency, placement.
older brothers. In “The Art of the called the Office of Special Coun-
ity Office does not have the ability made clear that it had no intention Mr. Trump’s administration has
Deal,” Donald Trump writes of NATIONAL
to enforce its findings on the of acting on the watchdog’s find- sel, went nowhere. repeatedly sought to ignore the
stealing his younger brother’s An article on Friday about the
Trump administration, which has ings. But Democrats tried to press order of succession defined by the
blocks and gluing them together. promotion of a theory by Presi-
“That was the end of Robert’s repeatedly defended its appoint- “D.H.S. is expressly authorized the case. Senator Chuck Schumer Vacancies Reform Act, seeking in-
ments of Mr. Wolf and Mr. Cuc- by Congress in the Homeland Se- of New York, the Democratic stead to elevate officials seen as dent Trump that questions Sena-
blocks,” he writes, proudly.
tor Kamala Harris’s eligibility to
Even though Robert Trump was
never groomed to take over the run for vice president misspelled
the name of the University of
family company, he loyally went to
work for it after his father handed
the reins to Donald Trump. Robert
Yale Students Denounce Discrimination Accusations California school from which Ms.
Harris’s parents received doctor-
Trump served as an executive ates. It was the University of
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
vice president of the Trump Orga- California, Berkeley, not Berkley.
and GIULIA McDONNELL NIETO
nization, and he helped oversee its The cartogram in an article on
DEL RIO
casinos in Atlantic City, N.J. Wednesday about voting by mail
Trump Organization employees When Siddarth Shankar ap- described incorrectly some of the
referred to Robert Trump as the plied to Yale in 2017, he did not hes- states in regards to their absentee
“nice Trump,” according to itate to identify himself as Asian- voting rules. Montana is a state
Gwenda Blair, a Trump family bi- American, and wrote about how
that allows absentee voting for
ographer. But after a blowout fight visiting family members in con-
all, not one that mails ballots
in 1990 with his older brother after flict-ridden Kashmir had shaped
directly to all voters. Ohio and
the opening of the Taj Mahal casi- his worldview.
no, he stopped reporting directly Massachusetts are states that will
He did not expect to get in, be-
to Donald Trump. cause he knew he had tough com- mail absentee ballot applications
“Donald pointed the finger at petition as a student at a public to all voters; voters will not have
Robert,” Ms. Blair said. “When the high school in the affluent Wash- to procure an application them-
opening weekend was botched ington suburb of McLean, Va., selves.
and the slot machines got jammed where most students were either
up, he blamed Robert for that. white or, like him, Asian-Ameri- SPORTS
Robert stormed out and never can, and many apply to the Ivy
worked for him again directly.” An article on Friday about a
League. But he was admitted. tennis match between Venus and
After that, Robert Trump was Now he sees the Trump admin-
sidelined in the company. “You Serena Williams at the Top Seed
istration’s accusation that Yale
could consider him the quietest of Open misstated the score of the
discriminated against Asian-
Trumps,” said Michael D’Antonio, Williams sisters’ match on Thurs-
American and white applicants,
a Trump biographer. “He was glad day. Serena Williams beat Venus
leveled against the university by
to stay out of the spotlight. He had Williams, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, not 6-3, 3-6,
a very low-key role in the Trump the Justice Department’s civil
rights division on Thursday, as un- 6-4.
Organization itself. I could never
tell quite what he did, but it was fathomable and divisive.
not public-facing.” “I think this is the oldest tactic ARTS
But Robert Trump remained in the book, to pit minority groups An article on Friday about new
loyal to his family, serving as its against each other,” Mr. Shankar, exhibitions on the Lower East
unofficial spokesman and con- 20, now a junior majoring in eco- Side misspelled the surname of
sigliere. nomics, said on Friday. CRAIG WARGA/BLOOMBERG
the owner of the Karma gallery.
He has in recent months led the Yale students widely criticized Officials at Yale say their admissions process adheres to federal laws and Supreme Court rulings. He is Brendan Dugan, not Dug-
family in its unsuccessful bid to the administration’s finding, gan. A picture caption with the
block the publication of a memoir which came two years after a com- demand on its own. by Harvard and two others by Yale senior who was born in Hon- article, using information from
by their niece Mary L. Trump — plaint was filed against the uni- Legal experts saw the finding Harvard and Yale, despite strong duras but whose family moved to Tibor de Nagy gallery, misstated
the daughter of their deceased versity by a group called the Asian as an extension of conservative le- academics — were reluctant to the United States when she was 6,
older brother, Fred Trump Jr. — the title of an artwork by Ann
American Coalition for Education. gal efforts to end race-based col- speak on Friday. They said they has been dealing with the Trump
that described decades of family Most said the administration had Toebbe. It is “Sheila’s House,” not
lege admissions policies, a battle agreed with the Justice Depart- administration for four years, she “Antique Dealers.” Also, a picture
dysfunction and brutality that she lost credibility on racial matters that is expected to eventually ment ruling but were afraid of be- said, as the president has threat- caption omitted the title of an
claimed turned Donald Trump long ago, undermining any analy- reach a Supreme Court that leans ing savaged on social media for ened to end the program that al- artwork shown. It is Zenzaburo
into a reckless leader. It was the sis it might produce on the use of more conservative after two ap- their views. lows her to stay. The tension be- Kojima’s “Roses,” 1960, at Karma
president’s younger brother who race and ethnicity in college ad- pointments by President Trump. Zuri Goodman, 20, a Yale junior, tween the administration and the
requested the restraining order in missions. in the East Village.
Queens County Surrogate’s Court. Several challenges to admis- said he had misgivings about university feels familiar to her.
“When I talk to my Asian- A film review on Friday about
Before that, Robert Trump was sions practices, including at Har- whether the university’s admis- The experience for her white
American friends, this is not what “Change of Life” misidentified
the one who spearheaded the fam- vard, the University of North Car- sions process was fair to every- classmates seems very different,
we wanted,” said Alec Dai, a Yale olina at Chapel Hill, and a newly Luchino Visconti’s “La Terra
ily response in 1999 when Mary one. she said. Some have parents or
senior from New York City whose filed case against the University Trema.” It was a fictional story,
Trump and her brother, Fred “Race shouldn’t necessarily be grandparents who also attended
parents immigrated from Guang- of Texas at Austin, have been or- not a documentary.
Trump III, sued for their father’s discarded, it should just be per- the university.
zhou, China. “It’s not like people chestrated by Students for Fair
share of the family estate. “For them, Yale was a rite of Errors are corrected during the press
on campus were asking for this Admissions, a group that opposes
Robert Trump was already ill passage,” Ms. Zavala Ramos said. run whenever possible, so some errors
kind of justice that doesn’t exist.” affirmative action, and are mak-
when he helped the president in “There’s always these sentiments noted here may not have appeared in
The Justice Department ac-
the recent lawsuit. “It seemed
cused Yale of violating federal civ-
ing their way through the federal
courts. A federal judge ruled in
Charges are a way to of, like, this institution wasn’t all editions.
Robert was being dragged out of a meant for us, and there’s people
sickbed to somehow contest this,” il rights law by using race and eth-
nicity as a determining factor
Harvard’s favor last year, but an ‘pit minority groups who have been here for genera- Contact the Newsroom
Mr. D’Antonio said. “He was will- appeal in the case will be heard
ing to be used by Donald, but when sifting through the roughly next month, with the federal gov- against each other.’ tions that feel the same way when
they see us.”
nytnews@nytimes.com or call
never eager to be out front.” 35,000 applications it reviews ernment supporting the plaintiffs. 1-844-NYT-NEWS (1-844-698-6397).
each year to admit about 2,300 Mary Chen, 20, a junior, said she
Robert Trump, who for years Samuel Bagenstos, a law pro- Editorials
students. About half of the stu- had experienced discrimination
was married to Blaine Trump, a fessor at the University of Michi- letters@nytimes.com
dents in last year’s freshman class haps weighted less,” said Mr. against Asian-Americans. She re-
New York socialite, was more ac- gan, suggested that the Yale find- Newspaper Delivery
cepted in society circles than Don- identified themselves as white Goodman, who is biracial, the called being taunted by class-
ing was motivated by “the almost customercare@nytimes.com or call
ald Trump ever was, Mr. D’Anto- and a quarter as Asian-American, child of an Indian-born mother mates in the seventh grade in her
certain fear by Trump administra- 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637).
nio said. But he always toed the with African-American students tion officials that there’s at least a and a white father. “And I think hometown, Columbus, Ga. But she
family line that the Trumps were making up 12 percent and Latino substantial likelihood that come what should be weighted in its did not believe Yale was discrimi-
devoted to one another. students 15 percent. January, they won’t be here. So place is class and wealth and the nating against Asian applicants,
The president’s decision to visit “For the great majority of appli- they want to put facts on the access that they allow.” and regardless, she said, the rac-
Robert Trump in the hospital is cants, Asian-American and white ground, to try them in a potential Kahlil Greene, a senior who last ism she had experienced did not
different from how he handled applicants have only one-tenth to Biden administration.” year was the first Black student compare to anti-Black racism in
news in 1981 that his older brother, one-fourth of the likelihood of ad- Mr. Bagenstos was a career at- elected as Yale’s student body America.
Fred Trump Jr., was in grave mission as African-American ap- torney in the civil rights division president, said he had considered “Anti-Blackness and systemat-
shape. According to Mary plicants with comparable aca- in the 1990s and deputy assistant his race “part of my identity, not a ic racism and oppression, espe-
Trump’s account, Donald Trump demic credentials,” the depart- attorney general for civil rights in plus or a minus.” To ignore it, he cially for Black Americans, is the
went to the movies the night Fred ment said. the Obama administration. He said, would be “strange.” more pervasive and the most im- AVE MARIA CHAPEL
Trump Jr. died. The government demanded “It’s like taking a plot point or portant thing that we need to fo-
But Ms. Blair said that in light of
said that Thursday’s finding, Catholic Traditionalist
that Yale stop using race and na- which was only four pages long, character out of a story, like a cus on right now,” she said.
the crack that Mary Trump’s tional origin as factors in admis- seemed rushed — unlike the weird omission,” he said. She noted that the Justice De- Center
210 MAPLE AVE (off Post Ave)
memoir has put in the Trump fam- partment had ignored Yale’s tradi-
ily lore, the president would have
sion. Yale has refused, saying its pages and pages of extensive dis- He was hurt by beliefs ex-
pressed on social media over the tion of legacy and athletic admis-
WESTBURY, L.I., N.Y. 11590
admissions process adheres to cussions of the facts that usually
had no choice.
both federal law and Supreme characterize such letters. last day that “Black students have sions, which favor wealthier white TEL: (516) 333-6470
“It’s very much part of the TRADITIONAL
Court rulings that have generally “It’s a very thin demand letter,” a much easier time getting in” to students.
Trump family legend that they are
a tight-knit, loyal group,” she said. supported affirmative action — he said, “which suggests they’re Yale because of their race. The “That’s not something that is LATIN MASS
triggering a possible lawsuit by Justice Department finding has considered in discussions about AS WAS OFFERED BY THE LATE
“That is the family modus operan- really rushing in order to get in FATHER GOMMAR A. DE PAUW
di. Mary Trump has recently sug- the Justice Department, which ahead of the election.” inflamed those resentments, he affirmative action,” she said. “It’s SUNDAY MASS @ 9 a.m.
FIRST SATURDAYS & HOLY DAYS:
gested otherwise, but I think as lacks the authority to enforce the Three Asian-American stu- said. always continuing the demoniza- @9:30 a.m.
part of the response to that, Don- dents who were involved in the le- As a beneficiary of the Deferred tion of Black and Latinx students, DAILY: RADIO MASS
VIDEO INTERNET MASS
ald Trump would have no choice Serena Puang contributed report- gal actions against Ivy League Action for Childhood Arrivals pro- as taking a spot from a deserving www.latinmass-ctm.org
ing. schools — one who was rejected gram, Cinthia Zavala Ramos, a white or Asian student.” Facebook: Ave Maria-Chapel
but to go.”
A18 SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

EDITORIAL LETTERS

A Dictatorship in Belarus Is Shaken When Trump’s Target Is the Post Office

TO THE EDITOR: economy, especially when many are
housebound?
For a quarter of a century now, Aleksandr Lukashenko has ing political prisoners — to prod the West into reaching back Re “Trump Resists More Funding
for Post Office” (front page, Aug. The pandemic makes the need
been offering a master class in dictatorship in Belarus, the out to him. The Trump administration was in the process of for universal mail service even
14):
country he runs with an iron hand. But after the blatantly restoring an ambassador to Minsk when the crisis struck. more pressing. But the Postal Serv-
It’s been more than a week since
rigged election of Aug. 9, the next lesson should be in how The truth is that Mr. Lukashenko has never really Washington State’s Aug. 4 primary ice does extraordinary work day in
dictatorships are brought to an end. changed his stripes, and there is no chance he will if he sur- election, and it wasn’t considered and day out, and we should ac-
The son of a milkmaid and chairman of a Soviet state vives the current challenge. The protesters in the streets of newsworthy. There were no hours- knowledge it.
farm when the Soviet Union collapsed, Mr. Lukashenko was Belarusian cities are not risking beatings and even their long lines at polling stations, no LINDA WOOLLEY, BERNARD, ME.
catapulted to power in Belarus’s first democratic presiden- lives to win a few more tactical feints from their oppressors, uptick in infections since no one
tial election. He then made sure it was the last free and fair had to run a gantlet of virus spread-
but to demand that their election victory be honored and ers to exercise their right to vote,
TO THE EDITOR:
one — reshaping the old Soviet K.G.B. security apparatus that Mr. Lukashenko cede power when his current term In light of President Trump’s latest
and no one was denied their right to
into a personal machine for crushing any opposition, bring- ends in early September. “Belarus will never again want to vote for fear of getting sick. That’s threat to our democracy in essen-
ing the parliament, judiciary and media under his firm con- live under its previous rulers,” Ms. Tikhanovskaya said in a because Washington has been tially defunding the Postal Service,
trol and earning the dubious title, “Europe’s last dictator.” voting exclusively by mail for al- states need to act immediately.
video message from her refuge in Lithuania, calling on the Right now, every state needs to
With generous support from Russia, largely in the form government to start talking about a transfer of power. most a decade. Candidates were
elected in both parties, and there have mail-in ballots available for
of gas and oil at privileged prices, to make sure that he did Belarusians do not need more indignant statements everyone for any reason, and en-
not turn westward, Mr. Lukashenko managed to retain a has been no evidence of fraudulent
from the West; they need the West to join them in declaring voting. courage people to request them.
measure of popular support by avoiding the chaotic, large- that the official election results are fraudulent, in demand- Then they need to set up secure
Washingtonians are tired of
scale privatizations that afflicted Russia and most other for- hearing how fraught with fraud ballot boxes near the polls starting
mer Soviet republics and keeping key industries — and their voting by mail is, because we know in October. Hire security to watch
jobs and patronage — in government hands. it isn’t true. the boxes 24/7. Period. Wake up,
governors! This is an emergency.
Yet well before the latest election, Mr. Lukashenko’s RENÉE BUSH
sixth, things were not looking good. His silly and incompe- ELLYN S. ROTH, MANHATTAN
PORT TOWNSEND, WASH.
tent response to the coronavirus pandemic, which included
urging his subjects to ride tractors, take saunas and drink TO THE EDITOR:
TO THE EDITOR:
vodka, alienated many people as the disease spread and the It is apparent that President Trump
Since there is no good way to pre-
economy shrank. His usual tactics — jailing or disqualifying is going to try to impede mail-in
vent the Trump administration’s
any serious challengers — backfired when Svetlana voting in the fall election by crip-
crippling of the Postal Service
pling the Postal Service. I live in
Tikhanovskaya, a former English teacher and the wife of a heading into the November elec-
Washington State, where we hold
popular pro-democracy blogger arrested after he declared tion, may there be a nongovern-
all elections entirely by mail, and I
his candidacy, took her husband’s place. Her entire platform, mental remedy?
want to share three simple tips for
For example, Jeff Bezos, no fan of successful mail-in voting to counter
appealing in its passion and simplicity, consisted of pledges
the president, should be willing to his effort.
to release all political prisoners and hold free and fair elec- let the delivery of consumer goods
tions. Her rallies drew massive crowds, and on Election Day, First, vote early and avoid the
slide a bit so that his Amazon em- rush. If the ballot comes today,
long lines formed at the polling stations. pire can reliably distribute and complete it and send it back tomor-
Mr. Lukashenko stuck to his familiar script and claimed return all the nation’s mail-in bal- row. Some states start to count
an utterly improbable landslide victory, ceding less than a lots. The label atop each envelope early, but even if your state doesn’t,
tenth of the votes to Ms. Tikhanovskaya — “Our society has would provide an unimpeachable at least your ballot is in their hands.
record of the round trip, acceptable Second, read and follow the in-
not matured enough to vote for a woman,” he said. In the ab-
to all election commissions. structions for completing the ballot
sence of credible monitors or exit polls, it is impossible to
know how many votes Ms. Tikhanovskaya actually got, but MAX FRANKEL, NEW YORK carefully. For instance, the instruc-
tions will often specify a particular
it is nearly certain she won. In some polling stations where The writer is a former executive editor
type of marker. Whatever it says,
the real results leaked out, she had received as much as 70 of The New York Times.
use it. They also require some
percent of the vote. identification from you, usually the
When the streets of Minsk, the capital, and other cities TO THE EDITOR: signature on your voter registration
and towns erupted in angry demonstrations, Mr. Lukashen- As the former president and chief form. Make sure you sign the ballot
ko’s black-shirted thugs responded with extraordinary vi- executive of the Direct Marketing in the exact same format.
TATYANA ZENKOVICH/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
Association, I cannot say enough in Third, I believe that the dedi-
ciousness. Demonstrators were beaten with batons and cated people of the Postal Service
ing an unconditional release of all detained demonstrators support of increased funding for the
boots; thousands were detained; and those who were later would be able to handle the added
and in calling for new elections. Postal Service. Think of what the
released told of being packed into small cells and systemat- Postal Service does: It delivers load of mail-in ballots without
ically beaten, their screams filling prisons. On her way to file This would meet stiff resistance from Russian Presi- breaking a sweat, but Mr. Trump
mail and packages to every address
a formal complaint, Ms. Tikhanovskaya was picked up by dent Vladimir Putin, for whom Mr. Lukashenko is a bulwark seems determined to stop them. If
in the United States every day. This
the police and, after three hours, made an obviously coerced against Western encroachment. The Belarusian dictator has is amazing. possible, hand-deliver your ballot.
made a point of defying Mr. Putin of late — he did not sup- Think about it: For first-class Some states provide drop-off boxes
statement ceding the election and asking people not to pro-
port Russia’s clandestine war in eastern Ukraine; in April of letters, the Postal Service does this for ballots; find and use them.
test. Soon afterward she fled to neighboring Lithuania.
2019 he expelled the Russian ambassador, accusing him of for a paltry 55 cents. If I handed JIM MAZZULLO, VANCOUVER, WASH.
The violence only bred more resistance. Women
treating Belarus like a vassal state; and last month he ar- you a letter in New York and said,
dressed in white and holding flowers have formed human “Bring this to my friend in Hawaii,
chains in Minsk and other cities to protest the police brutal- rested 33 men he said were Russian mercenaries come to TO THE EDITOR:
and I’ll give you 55 cents,” you
ity. Spontaneous strikes broke out in several state-owned stir up trouble in advance of the election. At the same time, would laugh in my face. What can you and I do to help save
factories. Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian Nobel litera- Belarus has drawn closer to Beijing, from which it received While so-called junk mail gets a the post office? Buy lots of stamps.
a $500 million loan in December. But Mr. Putin was quick to bad rap, think about that, too: You are providing urgently needed
ture laureate, accused Mr. Lukashenko of declaring war on cash to the Postal Service.
his own people and demanded that he step down. congratulate Mr. Lukashenko on his “victory.” Someone in Alaska can shop at
The sympathies and unquestionable support of the Crate & Barrel via catalog. How is JEFFREY T. KILLEEN
In an attempt to quell the anger, the government
West must be with people of Belarus who have had enough this not an integral part of the SANTA CRUZ, CALIF.
pledged to release detained protesters. But it also affirmed
the results of the sham election, making clear that Mr. Luka- of Mr. Lukashenko’s willful, cruel and illegitimate rule. The
shenko will not go quietly or peaceably. Belarus is not E.U. and the U. S. have made a good start by painting the Be-
Ukraine, where powerful regional differences, competing larus election as neither free nor fair and condemning the The Israel-U.A.E. Accord: Progress or Politics?
political factions and powerful oligarchs kept the govern- crackdown on demonstrators. They can do more: They can
TO THE EDITOR: Legacy” (news analysis, front page,
ment from amassing the centralized, militarized power Mr. warn Mr. Lukashenko that they will not recognize him as the
Re “Israelis and U.A.E. Agree to Aug. 14):
Lukashenko wields. winner unless he calls off his thugs and there is a new and Full Ties in Landmark Deal” (front There may well be significant
The European Union and the United States have issued credible election. Washington should also hold off sending a page, Aug. 14): The accord between other reasons Prime Minister Ben-
strong statements condemning the police violence and elec- new ambassador to Minsk. Israel and the United Arab Emir- jamin Netanyahu of Israel has
tion fraud, and there is talk of imposing sanctions on respon- The last lesson on dictatorship should be that people ates is a seismic shift in a region swerved from immediate annex-
sible officials. Such sanctions were imposed before, and Mr. will not abide tyranny forever, and that when they can bear typically besieged by strife. ation of large portions of the West
no more, free people elsewhere will come to their side. By engaging in a forward-looking Bank, but it is hard not to suspect
Lukashenko has long learned tactical gestures — like releas-
approach, this landmark agreement that one factor in making that deci-
facilitated by the United States has sion is the way the political wind is
the potential to create new eco- blowing in the United States.
nomic partnerships and develop Mr. Netanyahu is ever the prag-
security alliances that can help matist, and like many others who
TIMOTHY EGAN stabilize the Middle East. It can hitched their future to the coattails
also foster collaboration between of Donald Trump, he may now be
Israel and its Arab neighbors to
The Prosecutor Trump Fears Most inhibit Iran’s enduring efforts to
create chaos in the region.
doubting whether that was the right
move.
Like most of the rest of the world,
Furthermore, this agreement is a including many countries that
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN of the jury, our world in total number of Covid-19 deaths, best ever until the pandemic. Not true.
reminder that to achieve a degree support Israel, the Democrats have
case today is against the most powerful with a fatality rate five times as high as the With his tax cuts for the rich that blew a of peace, one must be prepared to repeatedly voiced their opposition
man in the world. And using the most pow- global average. Remember that the next trillion-dollar hole in the federal budget, offer difficult concessions, a lesson to annexation. Perhaps Mr. Netan-
erful weapon of government by the peo- time the president praises himself. he promised economic growth of up to 6 that the Palestinian Authority, yahu is no longer as confident that
ple, you can hold this man accountable for But just consider a single day, Tuesday, percent. It never got to even half that high which sharply criticized the Israel-
the first time in his life, when you pass when Joe Biden announced Harris as his in the first three years of his presidency. annexation will be a fait accompli if
U.A.E. deal, will hopefully heed. Mr. Trump is not re-elected.
judgment on Nov. 3. pick. Covid-19 took the lives of 1,450 people Unemployment now is at Depression-era Focusing on the future and making
We will show that President Trump has in the United States on that one day. For levels. bold decisions with an eye toward GEORGE J. GRUMBACH JR.
made a mockery of the Constitution, has Canada, it was four. “He inherited the largest economic ex- reconciliation is far more effective NEW YORK
lied to you more than 20,000 times, and is Trump owns this failure. We are a pa- pansion in history,” as your prosecutor than a steadfast refusal to compro-
currently trying to sabotage the Postal riah nation, shunned and pitied, unable to said. “And then, like everything else he in- mise. TO THE EDITOR:
Service in a desperate bid to cling to herited, he ran it straight into the ground.”
power. But worse than any of that, he is re- What has this president done to protect
N. AARON TROODLER Does anyone have “landmark Arab-
sponsible for the deaths of thousands of BALA CYNWYD, PA. Israeli peace accord” under August
Americans during his willful mismanage- Kamala Harris is the his base of working-class whites, many of
them deemed “essential” workers? Noth-
on your 2020 predictions Bingo
ment of the pandemic. The case against
him is “open-and-shut,” as your prosecu-
person to build a case ing. As we speak, he’s trying to take away TO THE EDITOR: card?
the rights of workers to sue an employer in Re “Netanyahu Swerves, Eyeing STEPHEN A. SILVER, SAN FRANCISCO
tor said Wednesday, and factually incon- against the president. an unsafe workplace.
trovertible.
He will distract you by trying to tie the
That prosecutor, Senator Kamala Har-
Democratic ticket to the intolerant, mob-
ris, is a woman who has spent most of her
professional life going after criminals.
travel outside our borders, prisoners of his
fatal malfeasance.
ruled far left, epitomized by the Jacobins A Georgia Parent’s Plea: Stop the Shaming
on the Seattle City Council who recently
And since that prosecutor will occupy a Some of you have excused this presi- TO THE EDITOR: environment.
hounded out the city’s first female Afri-
space inside Trump’s head for the next dent’s incompetence, his quackery, his Re “Back to School in Georgia: Today is Day 8 and my kids are
three months, he should grant her the de- can-American police chief.
buffoonery, his vile character, his consis- 1,193 Are Quarantined” (front page, indeed thriving. I drive them to and
cency of properly pronouncing her name. tent insults of women, minorities, the free But those who rule by bullhorn and bul-
Aug. 13): from school each day. Every time I
It’s not Ca-mall-uh, as he has said. It’s press, the courts. But his ignorance is le- lying have nothing in common with your
I write as a parent of two stu- am there I see smiles beneath the
Comma-la. thal. prosecutor and her running mate. As she
dents in the Cherokee County, masked teachers’ faces, and every
Let the record show that she has al- Other countries in the world had a na- has said, “No good public policy ends with
Georgia, school system. Our county single child who walks out of that
ready called him what he is. “I know pred- tional plan. Trump has never had one. In- an exclamation point.” and entire state are under a micro- school is wearing a colorful mask.
ators, and we have a predator living in the stead, he tweeted conspiracy nonsense He will even say that Joe Biden, a Ro- scope right now as we are the first As parents, we know closing down
White House,” she said last year. “The from an ex-game show host and promoted man Catholic who regularly attends to go back to school. As I write this, may be inevitable, but my good-
thing you must importantly know, preda- ingesting household disinfectants. church, is “against God.” The last time we have two high schools closed ness, let’s show each other some
tors are cowards.” The presidency, as Biden says, “is a Trump went to church he used chemical because of exposure to Covid-19, grace and unity and move forward
So, to the case: Let’s begin with the loss duty to care.” This president has failed at irritants against peaceful protesters to get and other schools with students and in this situation together, instead of
of more than 165,000 lives from Covid-19 in the primary duty to keep you safe. Every there, for a photo op. staff in quarantine. judging and shaming one another.
the United States, on Trump’s watch, and day, he’s finding new ways to make your Most of you have made up your mind. My husband and I did not take Our board of education had an
maybe as many as 200,000. Each of them life miserable. He is actively working to For those who haven’t, the prosecutor will this decision lightly about whether impossible task. Its members had to
had a story, a life, people they loved and take away health care from millions, close with what she opened with. The to send our children back to school make these decisions during un-
were loved by. Now gone before their time. through his assault on Obamacare. His at- United States is “in tatters.” Look around or have them learn remotely. We precedented times in our history.
Their voices cry out from the grave. tack on the Postal Service, if successful, is at the shuttered businesses, the hospitals talked about it for weeks on end
This story is far from over as other
You’ve already heard that the United not just an attempt to break this democra- stuffed with those struggling to breathe, and I lost many nights of sleep over
schools begin to open across our
States, with barely 4 percent of the world’s cy, but could also deprive many of you Americans at each other’s throats. This it. I chose face-to-face learning as I
president offers you no way out. You alone state and the entire United States.
population, has 25 percent of the coro- from getting your lifesaving meds on time. know that my children will thrive
navirus cases. And that the U.S. leads the But the economy, he will say. It was the can show him the door. 0 academically and socially in this ALEXIS BUCHHOLZ, WOODSTOCK, GA.
 THE NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N A19

Don’t Call Treasure and Turbulence in the Deep Sea

Kids Covid Steven H.D. Haddock
C. Anela Choy
dirt for breakfast, respiring through
clogged gills and squinting through a
muddy haze to communicate.

Spreaders
Based on predicted discharge rates, a

T
HERE is treasure in the sea, and single mining ship will release between
much of it lies in plain view on the two million and 3.5 million cubic feet of ef-
deep ocean floor. Fields of metal- fluent every day, enough to fill a fleet of
lic nodules and towering hydro- tanker trucks 15 miles long. Now imagine
Naomi Bardach thermal chimneys accumulate precious this process running continuously for 30
and industrially prized metals, estimated years — the lifetime of a mining lease.

A
S A pediatrician, I love treating chil- to be worth many billions to even trillions Most important, these sediment plumes
dren, but I am well aware that of dollars. will not respect the neat boundaries de-
Mining operations around the world are fined by a permit. Regulatory buffer zones
the urgent care clinic where I
exploring strategies to plunder this treas- set up around the Cook Islands, for exam-
work is not germ-free. Inevita-
ure, asserting that mining in the deep sea ple, extend only 50 nautical miles — insuf-
bly, I catch the occasional bug from a kid
is more sustainable and less harmful than ficient to protect their reefs, fisheries and
with a runny nose and a cough. tourism from these expanding sediments,
When the coronavirus pandemic began, doing so on land. Mining explorations cov-
ering more than 500,000 square miles which are projected to travel hundreds of
I worried that I would treat children who miles.
were asymptomatic or mildly ill (“just a have been approved by the International
Seabed Authority, which regulates mining The companies and governing agencies
cold”), then get the virus myself and that stand to profit from mining activities
spread it to my parents or friends. Many in international waters. That’s roughly
twice the size of Texas. are based in the United States, Canada,
teachers who are about to return to school Europe and Asia. They are geographi-
But the deep sea is not a barren, lifeless
have the same worries. cally, politically and economically re-
wasteland, as once thought. Exploration
But the coronavirus does not act like moved from the small island nations that
in recent decades has revealed thousand-
normal cough and cold viruses that we of- will bear the brunt of the consequences.
year-old corals, microbes that can treat
ten catch from children. In a surprise to cancer and infectious diseases, and hydro- While government leaders may welcome
pediatricians, teachers and parents alike, thermal vent fields of monumental pro- mining for economic gain, it is the Indige-
the virus behaves the opposite of what we portions, from which living creatures con-
are used to. Children and adolescents do vert sulfur and methane into energy, offer-
not seem to get sick with Covid-19 as fre-
quently as adults. And children, especially
ing a glimpse at the origins of life on earth.
So the challenge is not simply finding the
Mining threatens the rich
elementary school-age children, do not
seem to transmit it effectively to one an-
X on the treasure map, but bringing the ecosystem between the
materials to the surface in a way that in-
other, nor to adults. flicts minimal damage to the ocean envi- surface and the seafloor.
A recent study of 145 children and ronment.
adults in Chicago in March and April As deep-sea biologists who study the
found that young, symptomatic children nous people and local communities on
drifting and swimming inhabitants of the
had more of the virus in their noses than these islands who are often without a
ocean, we originally felt that any resulting
meaningful voice in decisions that will
adults. Some speculated that this meant harms from deep-sea mining would pri-
weigh heavily on their future. In the
that the children could spread it as easily marily be felt at the bottom of the sea.
United States, which is not a member of
as adults. But the study was small and did- Nearly all of the environmental impact
the nearly 170-nation seabed authority,
n’t actually measure transmission; global studies on deep-sea mining have focused
the Trump administration is exploring
data show it is unlikely that the increased on the seafloor, where the aftermath is vis-
whether it can open portions of existing
viral load translates to increased infec- ible for decades. Seabeds are still denuded
national marine sanctuaries to mineral
tiousness. 30 years after experimental mining ma-
extraction.
The real risk of transmission in elemen- chines passed by.
Most deep-sea mining plans predict
tary schools is not the kids; it’s the adults. But as we and our colleagues noted re- plume discharges to be located around
Why is this important? It means we cently in the journal Proceedings of the 3,300 feet down, even when mining opera-
have much more control over transmis- National Academy of Sciences, mining tions are taking place on a seabed more
sion than we would with another kind of will have pronounced and debilitating im- than 16,000 feet deep. This may be out of
virus, because teachers and other school pacts that will be felt not just on the sea- sight from the surface, but it is not deep
employees can control and modify their bed but also throughout the deep water enough to avoid potentially disastrous ef-
behavior in ways that children cannot. column, which extends from about 600 fects on deep-ocean ecosystems and food
feet below the surface to the seafloor, webs. When mining operations com-
We know much more about the coro- MARK PERNICE
where the extraction takes place. mence, companies must shoulder the ad-
navirus than we did in March, when many
Minerals that miners seek form and ac- ecosystem — from microbes and worms to cles that flake down from the surface, as if ditional expense of depositing their efflu-
schools first closed their doors. Our guid-
cumulate extremely slowly in the deep jellies and giant squid — is important and in a giant snow globe. These filter-feeders ent as close to the original seafloor dis-
ing principles to stop its spread are mask ocean, with growth rates of only a few mil- is linked to us in many ways. are not limited to worms and snails, but turbance as possible. Doing so will min-
wearing, physical distancing, hand wash- limeters per million years. A nodule the When a nodule is gouged and vacu- also include the vampire squid and 30- imize harmful effects of both the sinking
ing, small classes and good ventilation size of a tennis ball lying on the sea floor umed from the seafloor, it is pumped to a foot-long gelatinous chains called salps. and drifting plumes on water-column life
and consisting largely of prized rare-earth surface ship through a pipeline. The min- This process of consuming particles con- and reduce their spread to nearby ecosys-
metals could be more than 14 million years erals are removed, and then the muddy, tributes to the flow of carbon from the at- tems.
Adults, not children, are old. While the ecosystem might recover to
some extent after a hundred years, the
silty, toxin-enriched fluid is pumped back mosphere to deep sediments in the ocean, Historically the deep sea has been con-
into the sea as what is called a “dewater- helping regulate the earth’s climate. sidered remote and largely devoid of life,
the most likely mineral resources will never be replaced. ing plume.” Heavier particles will sink to We’ve seen that the food web is complex and to have an inexhaustible capacity to
Mining serves present-day consumers the seafloor but must pass through thou- and interconnected, linking ultimately to
transmission vectors. but leaves the environmental conse- sands of feet of intervening water before commercial fisheries worth billions of dol-
absorb our pollution. In reality, these deep
water ecosystems are fragile, diverse and
quences for their children and grandchil- settling. Additionally, the fine silt will drift lars. Any toxins in the environment or diet connected to us. Mining operations must
dren. and flow for miles and months in the ocean of these fish will end up on our dinner reduce their impact on the whole of the
(open windows instead of recycled air). Critically, what is missed in assess- currents. It is frightfully clear that the im- plates. Amazingly, about three-quarters of ocean and not just the seafloor. The daz-
Adults can make sure these principles are ments of mining impacts is the effect on pact of this drifting plume on open-water the animals in the water column can make zling treasure of oceanic biodiversity has
maintained. the ocean itself. The sea is not just the ecosystems will be severe, varied and their own light, and they use this biolumi- unfathomable value as well. 0
Constant vigilance over masking and seafloor alone, but also what lies above it: global in scale. nescence to find prey and mates, while
distancing is exhausting. It’s understand- roughly 13,000 feet of water on average, Decades of deep-sea science have avoiding predators by using glowing cam- STEVEN H.D. HADDOCK is a senior scientist
able that teachers work their hardest to more than twice as deep as the deepest taught us that organisms in the deep wa- ouflage as a cloaking device. at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
follow best practices when interacting point of the Grand Canyon and including ter have adaptations that make them es- As a result of the mining, animals al- Institute. C. ANELA CHOY is an assistant
with children, but then let their guard more than 90 percent of the planet’s life- pecially susceptible to these mining im- ready living near their physiological lim- professor at the Scripps Institution of
down with their trusted colleagues, with sustaining habitats. This deep mid-water pacts. Many of them feed on small parti- its would be eating mouthfuls of poisonous Oceanography.
whom they are yearning to have normal
social interactions.
Understanding that adults, not chil-

After Summer Vacations, Winter Lockdowns

dren, are the most likely transmission vec-
tors will help teachers and other staff
members stay safe by remaining masked
when spending time together.
Finally, in our pre-Covid-19 mental to welcome international visitors and re- and Rwanda have each pursued this kind ing on arrival from higher-prevalence
model, we think of high school students as
Devi Sridhar open tourism and its related activities. A of maximum suppression through strict countries and note that it is working well.)
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
being less of a germ source than elemen- “super-spreading event” at a club in the border measures and have largely re- Yes, this will probably interfere with
tary school children. Teenagers tend to Spanish city of Córdoba resulted in 91 peo- turned to normal public life. plans to enjoy the beaches of Marbella.

T
get sick less often and are better able to HIS spring, when Western Eu- ple testing positive. Stopping community transmission re- But the summer, while infection rates still
contain their runny noses and coughs. rope became an epicenter of the “We faced a lot of pressure from the quires mandatory, enforced quarantine remain relatively low, is the only time to
However, the global data show that out- coronavirus pandemic, countries for incoming travelers and testing before make this work.
tourist industry because it’s one of the
breaks are bigger in high schools than in imposed strict lockdowns: In
main economic sectors of Spain,” Dr. Ja- release. Europe could do the same and co- Going into winter with hundreds of
France, a person needed a permit to go
elementary schools and that transmission cobo Mendioroz, the director of the com- operate across countries toward this goal cases per day means risking a steep rise
shopping; Spain required children to stay
is most likely happening not only among mittee responding to Covid-19 in Catalo- so that intra-European travel and tourism once temperatures cool, schools reopen
indoors the entire day; in Scotland and
adults in these schools, but also among nia, told Time. (Tourism accounts for can continue when a safe bubble can be and people head back indoors. It means
Wales, people could go outside for a walk
students, too. only once a day and had to stay within a roughly 15 percent of Spain’s G.D.P.) built. risking a second round of national lock-
This is evidenced by two studies in Oise, five-mile radius. Thanks to this, European Greece is looking to tighten lockdown What would this actually look like? downs, which would be catastrophic for
one of the most heavily affected areas of countries were able to not only flatten the again after a spike in cases following the Lockdown measures can bring case mental health and for economies. (And
France, where around 10 percent of people Covid-19 curve but also keep levels of in- return of foreign visitors. In the week after numbers low enough that testing and trac- let’s leave aside the question of whether or
in the community were infected. The fection very low. not it will actually be possible to get people
study of several elementary schools found But as the weeks went by, the pressure to comply the second time around.)
that 9 percent of students and 7 percent of to reopen society grew. People wanted Scotland and Northern Ireland have
teachers were infected (and the data sug- their prepandemic lives back. They looked ahead at the coming winter and
gested that the children got Covid-19 from wanted dynamic economies to protect made a concerted plan to minimize com-
a household contact, not from school). But their jobs; they wanted their children edu- munity transmission to avoid a serious re-
the second study, of a high school, found cated in schools; they wanted nights out surgence of the virus by using the sum-
that a whopping 43 percent of teachers at the pub and visits to their friends. And mer to drive cases as close to zero as pos-
and 38 percent of students had been in- they really wanted summer vacations. sible and to reopen cautiously. But neither
fected. Tourism and travel, it turns out, is one of nation has control over its borders be-
An Israeli middle and high school expe- Europe’s particular problems. Tourism ac- cause they are parts of the United King-
rienced an outbreak in May, soon after counts for some 600 billion euros (more dom. So both now face a stream of infec-
schools reopened. More than 150 students than $700 billion) of the European Union’s tions coming from England and Wales,
and staff members were infected. But gross domestic product. It provides which are behaving more like the rest of
there’s a lesson here: It happened during nearly 12 million people with employment Europe, as well as from people returning
a heat wave, when windows were closed directly and 15 million other people with from holidays abroad and not abiding by
and air-conditioners turned on, and the indirect employment. And the summer government advice to isolate for 14 days.
school was not enforcing masking or holiday is a veritable European institu- Issues within the United Kingdom pro-
physical distancing. tion, made only more central to many peo- vide a glimpse of how the rest of Europe
This is not to dismiss the risk of kids get- ple’s lives by the advent of low-cost air works. Because of Europe’s economic and
ting infected. Around 100,000 children and travel. social integration, and freedom-of-move-
young adults tested positive for the virus So this summer, with the virus tamped ment laws within the European Union, a
in the last two weeks of July in the United down to what many governments consid- strategy to stop community transmission
States. ered “acceptable” levels — the U.K. Joint GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
of Covid-19 requires cooperation among
Taken together, the data tell us that high Biosecurity Center, for example, has sug-
ing can break chains of transmission. Eu- European leaders. They need to commit to
schools should be treated more like adult gested that an acceptable incidence for
national measures to drive infections low
workplaces — with many studying from Britain is 1,000 symptomatic new cases
per day — countries started to reopen and
Europe squandered its ropean countries have already taken a se-
vere economic and social hit to contain in a concerted and coordinated way, to
home for a substantial proportion of time.
Hybrid curriculums are most likely going
people began to travel. Britons and Ger- chance to beat back the Covid-19, but to finish the job and truly regularly share information about
progress and to enforce strict checks on
mans wanted to escape to the beaches; crunch the curve, they need to build up
to be an important part of middle school
life as well, though more information is
Spaniards and Greeks wanted to see their coronavirus. enormous diagnostic capacity, to be able international travel.
tourism economies kept alive. to run large, fast and accurate testing Working to stop community transmis-
still sorely needed on Covid-19 among But predictably, cases are starting to in- the country opened its borders in early services. This is a difficult project but not sion might seem like a dream, but after
middle schoolers. crease. Spain now has about 3,500 new co- July, more than 100 tourists tested pos- impossible: Germany has done it fairly having bent the curve so significantly —
But when it comes to elementary ronavirus cases per day, up from fewer itive for the coronavirus. successfully. and taken the hardest step of lockdown
school, there are ways to reopen schools than 700 at the end of May. Germany saw As tourists move around the various But here’s the less fun part: European measures — why not crunch the curve
safely for in-person instruction. We should 1,445 new infections one day this week, the countries in the European Union (and re- countries need to introduce serious limita- fully? Stopping community transmission
put aside the specter of the 6-year-old vi- highest number of daily infections in more cently departed Britain) that are in vary- tions on nonessential travel until safe is the only path to stop the constant re-
ral vector still trying to figure out how to than three months. This should be a cause ing stages of easing lockdown, infection travel bubbles can be built among coun- surgence of the coronavirus, to reopen
use a tissue, and realize that we can con- for serious concern. The recent experi- across borders continues to occur, making tries where the virus is low. The virus schools fully and safely, and to avoid re-
trol transmission if we follow the public ences of Israel and the state of Victoria in it a whack-a-mole game that is impossible moves when people move. This does not peated national lockdown-and-release cy-
health principles. This will require real Australia show that even a handful of daily to win. mean borders need to be closed. But peo- cles over the next 18 months. That should
money be spent on our chronically under- new cases can easily become hundreds or The only way to stop constant increases ple need to be tested on arrival in a coun- be a lot more important than this sum-
funded schools. But it can be done. 0 thousands. in coronavirus cases is to eliminate com- try and then again five days later. There mer’s vacation. 0
The rise in infections in Europe seems munity transmission and to use robust has to be enforced isolation until there are
NAOMI BARDACH is an associate professor particularly linked to activities like test, trace and isolate policies to continue two negative tests at least five days apart. DEVI SRIDHAR is a professor and holds a
of pediatrics and policy at the University barhopping, clubbing and partying catching imported cases and clusters as (Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg airports chair in global public health at the Uni-
of California, San Francisco. among younger people, as well as the rush they emerge. New Zealand, Taiwan, Cuba have already introduced compulsory test- versity of Edinburgh.
A20 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020
4 TECHNOLOGY 6 YOUR MONEY ADVISER 10 SPORTS

Employees of Pinterest took College students are noticing Gregg Popovich hints that
a series of actions urging the a new item on their tuition he’ll keep coaching the Spurs
company to address racial bills: coronavirus fees that even after a 22-year streak
and sex discrimination. vary widely by campus. of playoff appearances ends.

TECH ECONOMY MEDIA FINANCE SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 B1

N

Monthly Change in Retail Sales

n8.3% n14.7% m18.2% m8.4% m1.2%

February to March March to April April to May May to June June to July

PHOTOGRAPHS BY HIROKO MASUIKE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

MARCH Macy’s flagship store on West 34th Street in Manhattan was closed because of the JULY The popular shopping district was bustling again. Even after healthy jumps, however,
coronavirus outbreak, and the usually crowded area around Herald Square was sleepy. sales in categories like appliances, electronics and clothing were below the July 2019 levels.

Shopping Didn’t Drop

But the increase was small, and brick-and-mortar stores are gasping.
By MICHAEL CORKERY levels was not a fluke. It was in- has brought sales above where broader economy. ry of sporting goods, hobby, musi-
and SAPNA MAHESHWARI stead a sign that consumerism, they were in February, is exactly “It’s very important to the econ- cal instruments and bookstores,
buoyed by government support, what policymakers were hoping omy that these talks in Washing- were flat or declined in July.
Even as coronavirus infections remained resilient even as many the stimulus money would accom- ton come to fruition,” said Mickey Still, there are certain sectors of
continued to spread, in-person other facets of American life were plish. By spending their benefits Chadha, senior credit officer at the industry that may never truly
school reopening plans were increasingly bleak. on food, clothing and appliances, Moody’s Investors Service. return until a vaccine is approved
scrapped and unemployment “It shows there is a willingness rather than saving the money, Sales at electronics and appli- and widely distributed, allowing
stayed near record highs, Ameri- and a desire to spend,” said Mi- Americans have helped keep ance stores jumped 23 percent in people to shop and dine indoors
cans kept shopping in July with chelle Meyer, chief U.S. economist many retailers and their employ- July while spending at clothing again without fear.
retail sales rising 1.2 percent from at Bank of America. “There is no ees and suppliers afloat. and clothing accessories stores Foot traffic to brick-and-mortar
June, reflecting a rare bright spot doubt the recovery in consumer The retail rebound is likely to rose almost 6 percent. Still, the stores selling primarily discre-
in the battered economy. spending has been robust.” bolster arguments in Congress electronics and appliance sales tionary goods, including apparel
The jump in sales reported on Much of that recovery has been that a robust form of supplemen- were down 3 percent from a year retailers, remains down by as
Friday by the Commerce Depart- helped by the $600 a week in un- tal unemployment assistance earlier, while clothing was down much as 43 percent from last year,
ment, though far smaller than the employment assistance, which should be extended. Without a 21 percent. Some areas that saw according to research from Mor-
increases in the previous two expired at the end of July. large subsidy, economists predict, strong sales in the previous gan Stanley.
months, showed that the bounce The three consecutive months consumption will stall in August month, like furniture and home That persistently low traffic —
back in spending to pre-pandemic of sustained retail recovery, which and into the fall, damaging the furnishings stores and the catego- CONTINUED ON PAGE B3

TikTok Looks In Europe, Millions of Jobless Fall Through Cracks Apple’s Profit
The Other Way Off App Sales By LIZ ALDERMAN
Thierry Hombert stepped PARIS —
On Underaged onto the balcony of his sparsely Is Two-Edged
furnished apartment and took one
By RAYMOND ZHONG last long look around. When the By JACK NICAS
and SHEERA FRENKEL coronavirus hit France, the short-
term catering gigs on which he OAKLAND, CALIF. — Twelve years
If Microsoft or another company lived for a decade disappeared, ago, Apple introduced the App
buys TikTok before President and he was now selling his home Store, a peculiar online market-
Trump bans the Chinese-owned to make ends meet. place for the year-old iPhone. It
video app on national security While millions of employees had 500 offerings. Apple told app
grounds, it will acquire a giant across Europe have been cast life- makers it would take a 30 percent
community of devoted fans and a lines by government furlough pro- cut of their sales, and few com-
lucrative platform for selling ads. grams meant to limit mass unem- plained.
It might be buying something ployment, Mr. Hombert and le- Today, the App Store is one of
else, too: a big population of users gions of other workers on precari- the world’s largest centers of com-
ages 14 and under. The minimum ous irregular contracts were merce, facilitating half a trillion
age for using TikTok is 13. excluded from that support. dollars in sales last year alone.
In July, TikTok classified more “It’s people like us who are fall- And Apple still takes 30 percent of
than a third of its 49 million daily ing through the cracks — and we many apps’ sales.
users in the United States as being are many,” said Mr. Hombert, 50, That commission has proved
14 years old or younger, according who worried about finding him- hugely consequential for Apple. It
to internal company data and doc- self out on the street. “We’re the has been the primary driver of
uments that were reviewed by ones being left behind.” growth in recent years for a com-
The New York Times. While some The furlough programs, widely pany that has nearly $275 billion
of those users are likely to be 13 or credited with sparing over 60 mil- in annual sales. And it has created
14, one former employee said Tik- lion people from layoffs in Europe, some of Apple’s biggest head-
Tok workers had previously have a major drawback: They aches, drawing antitrust scrutiny,
pointed out videos from children don’t shelter millions of workers fury from app makers and law-
who appeared to be even younger who aren’t on company payrolls, suits from consumers and part-
that were allowed to remain on- ANDREA MANTOVANI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES including the newly self-em- ners.
line for weeks. When Thierry Hombert lost his job after the pandemic hit, he had to trade in his car and put his apartment on the ployed, freelancers and people on The headaches intensified this
CONTINUED ON PAGE B4 market. Mr. Hombert and legions of other contract workers were excluded from government furlough programs. CONTINUED ON PAGE B3 CONTINUED ON PAGE B4
B2 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

The Digest

INDUSTRIALS

U.S. Production Rises 3%

the outbreak took hold in March.
Factory output rose 3.4 percent
last month, pulled higher by a 28.3
S&P 500 Drifts During a Sluggish Session
And Output Climbs 3.4% percent gain in production of cars, By The Associated Press
trucks and auto parts. S&P 500 INDEX Stock indexes barely budged on
American industry continued to Mining production ticked up 0.8
The S& P 500 Index
–0.02% Wall Street on Friday, leaving the
regain ground lost in the coro- percent, snapping five straight S&P 500 just shy of its record once Position of the S& P 500 index at 1-minute intervals on Friday.
navirus recession last month, but months of decreases. Utility out- 3,372.85
again. 3,400
production remains well below put climbed 3.3 percent as hot The S&P 500 edged down 0.58
where it was before the pandemic weather forced many Americans points, or less than 0.1 percent, to
struck. to turn on the air-conditioner. 3,372.85 after drifting between 3,380
The Federal Reserve on Friday Industry was running at 70.6
said that industrial production percent of capacity, up from its STOCKS & BONDS
climbed 3 percent in July after April low of 64.2 percent but well Previous close
surging 5.7 percent in June. Still, below its long-term average of small gains and losses throughout 3,373.43 3,360
production remains 8.4 percent 79.8 percent. the day. They’re the latest me-
below its level in February before ASSOCIATED PRESS DOW JONES INDUSTRIALS andering moves for the market,
which has taken a pause after 3,340
+0.12% erasing almost all of the steep
27,931.02 losses caused by the coronavirus
INTERNATIONAL pandemic. 3,320
Factory Output in China In each of the prior two days,
the S&P 500 made a brief run 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m.
Is Flat as Retail Sales Slip above its record closing high, Source: Reuters THE NEW YORK TIMES
which was set in February, only to
China’s factory output rose just fade in the afternoon. It remains
under 5 percent last month from a within 0.4 percent of its record. messenger RNA.
year earlier while retail sales fell Wall Street was nearly evenly Retail Sales Friday’s drift for the S&P 500
slightly, suggesting the country’s split between stocks that rose and left it with a gain of 0.6 percent for
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX Total retail and food services sales,
recovery from the coronavirus fell, and the moves were almost the week. It’s the sixth rise in the
pandemic remains muted. –0.21% seasonally adjusted.
uniformly modest. The Dow Jones last seven weeks for the index, but
The data reported on Friday 11,019.3 industrial average inched up it’s also the slowest in the last
show that despite a rebound in MAY JUNE JULY
34.30 points, or 0.1 percent, to $540 billion +18.3 +8.4% +1.2% three.
Chinese exports, domestic de- 27,931.02, while the Nasdaq com-
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
Treasury yields also slowed
mand in the world’s second-larg- posite dropped 23.20, or 0.2 per- their big jump from earlier in the
est economy is still lackluster. cent, to 11,019.30. 514
week. The yield on the 10-year
Flooding across much of the start the struggle to revive normal
Consumer spending is the main Treasury held steady at 0.71 per-
south of the country also hurt pro- business activity in March after 488
locomotive for the U.S. economy, cent. It had been at 0.57 percent
duction and consumer demand, declaring the virus under control.
and a report on Friday showed just on Monday. It climbed
though it pushed food prices Manufacturing is recovering, but 462
some more improvements for U.S. through the week after a couple
sharply higher. Pork prices rose consumer spending is weak as
retailers, though less than econo- reports on inflation came in
nearly 86 percent, the report said. many Chinese either lost their 10-YEAR TREASURY YIELD
mists expected. 436 higher than expected and after
The 4.8 percent increase in in- jobs or worry they might. 0.71% Sales at grocery stores, gas sta- the U.S. Treasury auctioned off
dustrial output from a year earlier The National Bureau of Statis- UNCH. tions and other retailers rose 1.2 410 more bonds to help cover the gov-
was on a par with the month be- tics said that overall, China creat-
percent in July. It was the third ’19 ’20 ernment’s huge deficit.
fore and slightly below forecasts ed 6.7 million jobs, nearly 2 million
straight month of gains, but it Source: Commerce Department In Europe, stocks trended lower
of just over 5 percent. fewer than would normally be ex-
marked a sharp slowdown from THE NEW YORK TIMES after Britain said it was imposing
China was the first economy to pected. ASSOCIATED PRESS
June’s 8.4 percent growth. It also a 14-day quarantine on travelers
fell short of the 2 percent growth from France, which said it would
that economists were expecting. index was Applied Materials, respond in kind. Tourism and trav-
Economists say consumer which rose 3.9 percent. The tech el stocks were hit particularly
AUTOMAKERS warrant reopening this case.” spending could be under more company reported stronger re- hard. France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.6
G.M. said that it would appeal pressure following the expiration sults for the summer than ana- percent, while Germany’s DAX
Judge Rejects G.M. Bid the ruling.
CRUDE OIL (U.S.)
lysts had expected and also gave a lost 0.7 percent. The FTSE 100 in
of federal programs to aid the
To Reopen Fiat Lawsuit When it first filed the lawsuit $42.01 economy, including $600 in extra better-than-expected forecast for London fell 1.5 percent.
last year, G.M. alleged that Fiat –$0.23 unemployment benefits each the current quarter. Asian markets were mixed af-
A federal judge in Detroit on Fri- Chrysler bribed U.A.W. officials week. Investors say it’s crucial Outside the S&P 500, shares of ter China reported its factory out-
day rejected a bid by General Mo- over many years to corrupt the that Washington deliver another the German biopharmaceutical put rose 4.8 percent in July from a
tors to reinstate a racketeering collective bargaining process and lifeline to the economy, and mar- company CureVac more than tri- year earlier, on par with June’s in-
lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler. gain advantages. G.M. was seek- kets seem to be assuming that a pled in their first day of trading. crease. Retail sales fell 1.1 percent,
G.M. claimed it had new infor- ing damages that one analyst said deal will happen. But Democrats After selling shares at $16 in an as consumers remained cautious.
mation on foreign accounts used could have totaled at least $6 bil- and Republicans say they remain initial public offering, the stock Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225
in an alleged bribery scheme in- lion. far apart on a possible compro- jumped to $55.90. The company, gained 0.2 percent, and South Ko-
volving Fiat Chrysler and leaders In July, Judge Borman threw mise. whose backers include the Bill & rea’s Kospi slipped 1.2 percent.
of the United Auto Workers union. out the lawsuit, saying G.M.’s al- GOLD (N.Y.) The day’s trading was notably Melinda Gates Foundation and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2
But U.S. District Judge Paul Bor- leged injuries were not caused by quiet, with only a few stocks in the the German government, is devel- percent after gyrating earlier in
man said G.M.’s “newly discov- Fiat Chrysler’s alleged violations. $1,937.00 S&P 500 falling even 2 percent. oping a vaccine against Covid-19 the day, while stocks in Shanghai
ered evidence is too speculative to REUTERS –$19.70 Among the biggest gainers in the and other medicines using the climbed 1.2 percent.

What Happened in Stock Markets Yesterday

POWERED BY

S&P 500 3372.85 0.02% Nasdaq Composite Index 11019.30 0.2% Dow Jones industrials 27931.02 0.1%

+20% 11,000 +20% +20%

29,000

3,400
+15% 10,500 +15% 28,000 +15%

+10% +10% 27,000 +10%

3,200 10,000
26,000
+ 5% + 5% + 5%
9,500
3,000 25,000
0% 0% 0%
9,000 24,000
June July June July June July

TOTAL
Best performers Worst performers Most active International bonds TOTAL RETURN
ASSETS
VOLUME
S&P 500 COMPANIES CLOSE CHANGE S&P 500 COMPANIES CLOSE CHANGE S&P 500 COMPANIES CLOSE CHANGE IN MIL. 1 YR 5 YRS IN BIL.

1. Borgwarner (BWA) $41.79 +2.0% 1. Arista Netwo (ANET) $212.67 –1.7% 1. BofAML (BAC) $26.47 +0.5% 50.5 1. Vanguard Total Intl Bd Idx Admiral(VTABX) +1.6% +4.3% $52.6
2. Boeing (BA) 178.08 +1.9 2. BD (BDX) 258.17 –1.6 2. Boeing (BA) 178.08 +1.9 32.3 2. DFA Five-Year Global Fixed-Income I(DFGBX) +1.4 +2.2 13.6
3. Advance Auto (AAP) 158.66 +1.7 3. Avery Denniso (AVY) 116.59 –1.6 3. Citigroup (C) 52.93 +0.1 13.8 3. PIMCO International Bond (USD-Hdg) Instl(PFORX) +2.8 +4.8 7.9
4. Avalonbay US (AVB) 153.05 +1.6 4. Boston (BSX) 39.16 –1.5 4. Boston (BSX) 39.16 –1.5 5.7 4. TCW Emerging Markets Income I(TGEIX) +3.7 +6.2 6.3
5. Alliance Data (ADS) 47.84 +1.6 5. Agilent (A) 97.37 –1.4 5. Bristol-Myers (BMY) 63.16 –0.1 5.6 5. American Funds Capital World Bond A(CWBFX) +6.2 +3.9 5.8
6. Best Buy (BBY) 109.49 +1.5 6. Baxter Intl (BAX) 83.50 –1.4 6. AbbVie (ABBV) 95.07 +0.4 5.5 6. DFA Two-Year Global Fixed-Income I(DFGFX) +1.5 +1.5 5.3
7. A O Smith (AOS) 49.76 +1.4 7. AES Corp (AES) 17.57 –1.2 7. AIG (AIG) 30.99 +0.9 4.9 7. AB Global Bond Advisor(ANAYX) +3.1 +4.0 4.6
8. Aon (AON) 197.20 +1.3 8. Abbott (ABT) 99.99 –1.1 8. AES Corp (AES) 17.57 –1.2 4.3 8. Fidelity New Markets Income(FNMIX) +3.2 +5.0 3.6
9. Aimco (AIV) 36.61 +1.1 9. AEP Inc (AEP) 82.95 –0.9 9. Baker Hughes (BKR) 17.23 +0.6 3.8 9. BNY Mellon Global Fixed Income - I(SDGIX) +5.4 +3.8 2.6
10. Amerisourcebe (ABC) 103.75 +1.0 10. American Wate (AWK) 145.31 –0.8 10. Amcr (AMCR) 11.20 0.0 3.1 10. Hartford World Bond I(HWDIX) +0.3 +2.5 2.1
Source: Morningstar

Sector performance How stock markets fared yesterday in Asia … … in Europe … and in the Americas.
S&P 500 SECTORS
+3.0
Energy +0.9% +2.5
Tokyo +0.2%
Industrials +0.4 +2.0
Financials +0.3 +1.5
Materials +0.2 +1.0
Real estate +0.1 +0.5
Shanghai +1.2% New York 0.0%
–0.0 Consumer staples 0.0
Toronto –0.1%
–0.1 Information technology –0.5
Frankfurt –0.7%
–0.1 Consumer discretionary –1.0

–0.1 Communication services –1.5

–0.2 Health care –2.0

Major stock market indexes London –1.6%
–0.9 Utilities –2.5
6 p.m. E.T. 8 10 12 a.m. 2 4 6 a.m. 8 10 12 p.m. 2 4 6 p.m.

What Is Happening in Other Markets and the Economy

Bonds Currencies Consumer rates Commodities Economy

10-year Treas. Key rates 1 euro = $1.1844 Crude oil Unemployment Rate Consumer confidence
3% $1.3
6% $100 a barrel
10% 120
1.2 Borrowing rate
2
30-year fixed mortgages
Fed Funds 5 50
1.1 5 100
1 2-year Treas.

0 1.0 4 0 0 80
’19 ’20 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’12 ’14 ’16 ’18 ’20 ’16 ’18 ’20 ’16 ’18 ’20

3
Yield curve $1 = 106.6 yen Corn New-home sales Industrial production
3% 120 $6 a bushel
2 Savings rate 700 thousand
1-YEAR AGO 1-year CDs 260
2 110 4
600
1 240
1 100 2 500
YESTERDAY
0 Maturity 90 0 0 400 220
3 6 2 5 10 30 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’10 ’15 ’20 ’12 ’14 ’16 ’18 ’20 ’16 ’18 ’20 ’16 ’18 ’20
Months Years
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N B3

VIRUS FALLOUT

Shopping Didn’t Drop, but June Increase in Retail Sales Was Small
FROM FIRST BUSINESS PAGE are listed online with the tagline,
following weeks and even months “Heading back or logging in, the
of temporary store closures — new year starts here.” The typical
helps to explain why a record clothing and backpacks are fol-
number of retailers have declared lowed by a link to face masks and
bankruptcy or closed down dur- hand sanitizer. Another section
ing the pandemic, even as sales of tailored to remote learners offers
products like groceries, at-home “everything kids need to redefine
entertainment and appliances the routine.” It includes links to
have been booming. Shoppers educational toys and virtual
have seemed more willing to ven- learning tools, as well as others ti-
ture out to open-air shopping cen- tled “Your Kitchen Cafeteria” and
ters, like Tanger Factory Outlet “Backyard Recess.”
Centers, which said on Aug. 5 that Troy Carlson has seen online
even with reduced hours, foot traf- sales pick up significantly at his
fic to its centers in the preceding Disney memorabilia store not far
six weeks had rebounded to about from Ms. Wong’s spice shop in
85 percent of previous-year levels. Sacramento. He has also man-
Many analysts had predicted PHOTOGRAPHS BY AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES
aged to draw in a fair amount of
that retail sales would be dented The flagship Macy’s store at Herald Square, left, and a nearby Levi’s store this week. The pandemic has greatly accelerated a shift toward online shopping. foot traffic since reopening in
in July by surging infections in June. Even as infections in Cali-
states like Arizona, California and fornia increased last month, he es-
Texas, which forced restaurants to embrace change. Companies department stores are going to be But she’s not sure what caused Bed Bath & Beyond recently in- timates that sales were about 75
and stores to close again. like Levi Strauss & Company, the closing, we’re working with Tar- people to stock up on her high-end troduced a “College at Home” sec- percent of their normal levels.
It didn’t happen, despite some denim retailer, have accelerated get to see if there’s an opportunity spices last month. tion on its website, encouraging Mr. Carlson, who has owned his
regional dips. Some economists the introduction of features like for us to do more.” He also said She thinks some customers parents and students to buy new business, Stage Nine Entertain-
pointed to the substantial shift the curbside pickup and appointment that the brand had a successful may have started to run out of the wares to transform their child- ment, since 1991, has also been
country had made to online shop- shopping and are testing same- value line at Walmart and a long- oregano and herbes de Provence hood bedrooms into what it called surprised by what some of his
ping during the pandemic. day delivery. The pandemic has time partnership with Amazon. that they bought at the start of the “dreamy dorm spaces” for remote
customers have chosen to buy, in-
“This year is a complete game supercharged “what may have Many retailers with a strong on- lockdowns in March, when many learning, with youthful themes
cluding Disney-themed art for as
taken five or 10 years and com- line presence or a product that more people started eating at such as “chill camp vibes,” “low-
changer in terms of e-commerce,” much as $8,000.
pressed it into this very short peri- serves the altered lifestyle and home. key bohemian” and “modern
Mr. Chadha said. “Nothing we sell is essential,”
od of time,” said Chip Bergh, Le- needs of people during the pan- “I don’t have an exact answer glam.”
But selling goods online is by no vi’s chief executive. demic are flourishing. for why this is happening,” said The pitch is to make the rooms he said.
means a panacea. For one thing, it With malls and department Heather Wong, who owns a Ms. Wong, who is selling all of her “more effective and more exciting But Mr. Carlson worries that his
can be far more expensive to re- stores struggling, brands like Le- spice store in Sacramento, said store’s items online or through to them even if they can’t be on success is not sustainable if other
tailers because of shipping costs. vi’s have been forced to think she felt “survivors’ guilt” seeing curbside pickup. “So many of my campus,” said Joe Hartsig, chief businesses around him in the
Even as online buying increases about the best way to reach so many other local businesses peers are struggling.” merchandising officer at Bed Bath city’s waterfront district are fail-
during the pandemic, many retail- customers. “With hundreds of close, even as her sales increased Many retailers are also grap- & Beyond. “It’s a real window of ing and the foot traffic in the area
ers are seeing profits drop. doors closed by more traditional in July. She said sales at her store, pling with an unusual back-to- change for students to reflect that declines.
“Profitability is not coming department stores, we’re re- Allspicery, had dropped in early school shopping season, which they’ve moved on from high “Our business motto is to get to
back to last year’s levels until mapping the market,” Mr. Bergh June because much of the area typically drives sales in July and school and are in college, and 2021,” he said. “We want to get to
2022,” Mr. Chadha said. said. The brand has expanded to near her store was closed by the August. This year is different, want their room to reflect a differ- the other end but we are con-
Still, the increased emphasis on about 140 to 150 Target locations in protests over the killing of George with many schools and colleges ent room.” cerned about what the other end
e-commerce has pushed retailers the past 18 months “and as other Floyd by the Minneapolis police. planning to start remotely. Kohl’s back-to-school offerings will look like.”

In Europe, Millions of Unemployed People Are Falling Through the Cracks

FROM FIRST BUSINESS PAGE Airbus, Renault, British Airways
the kind of short-term contracts and other European corporations
that employers have used en have announced huge downsizing
masse since the 2010 financial cri- despite taking government fur-
sis to reduce labor costs. lough subsidies. In France alone,
These people generally have re- President Emmanuel Macron has
duced access to unemployment warned of one million more jobs
benefits, which are far less gener- lost.
ous than the furlough programs. “In September, when you will
Around 15 million people in the have large numbers joining the
European Union were unem- unemployment system with good
ployed in June, a rise of 700,000 employability in front of people
since April, according to Eurostat, who’ve been unemployed since
Europe’s statistics agency. Heav- the beginning of the crisis, it’s go-
ily seeding those ranks are people ing to be a drama,” said
who had been on work contracts. Christophe Catoir, the president
They account for around four out for France and Northern Europe
of 10 workers in the industries at Adecco, Europe’s biggest tem-
hardest hit by Covid-19, including
porary employment agency.
tourism, catering, restaurants
European governments have
and services where there is direct
sought to cushion the blow by ex-
contact with other people, accord-
panding some protections for non-
ing to the Organization for Eco-
nomic Cooperation and Develop- standard workers, easing access
ment. to paid sick leave, and introducing
These workers face bleak or increasing unemployment
prospects for new employment in benefits. In France and Denmark,
Europe’s deep recession, and temporary income replacement
have fewer social protections than programs were extended to the
furloughed employees, including self-employed. Germany and
scant access to sick leave, expos- other countries began funding
ing many to steep income losses paid furloughs for people con-
and the threat of further precari- tracted directly with temporary
ousness. employment agencies.
Mr. Hombert is among those The support goes only so far. At
who have taken a heavy hit. For 10 Adecco, 78 percent of temps lost
years, he forged a career in the ca- work during France’s quarantine
tering industry by working on a and received furlough pay for the
relentless cycle of daily and FRANCOIS MORI/ASSOCIATED PRESS duration of their short-term con-
hourly contracts. Above, holding ties as if they
tracts, which in France average
vides around €600 a month, not
On a typical day, he woke at 5 were nooses, contract workers around seven days. But when the
enough to take care of his ex-
a.m. to work a business breakfast penses. from the food, catering and events contracts ended, they scrambled
at one end of Paris, then headed to industries held a protest in Paris to find new work even as employ-
“Covid-19 has created a huge fi-
another part of town to service a nancial crisis,” said Mr. Hombert, in June after they were denied ers stopped hiring.
glittering political or social dinner who traded in his car, cut back on furlough benefits. Left, freelancers Governments are trying to help
ending after midnight. Grabbing a all but the basics and scrapped seeking government support people like them by pumping bil-
few hours of sleep, he headed to a plans to take his children on vaca- demonstrated in Seville, Spain, lions into retraining for the unem-
fresh gig in the morning, where he tion. “You try to plan two months in June. Below, people lined up in ployed. But the programs can
signed new temporary contracts out, but you can’t even do that,” he front of London’s National Gallery sometimes feel futile for those
all over again. said. “Then you find yourself hav- for free meals distributed by who need fast access to new jobs.
The work pulled in 3,000 euros ing to sell the apartment to get by.” a charity in May. The situation When Mr. Hombert applied at
($3,500) a month — enough to pay But engineering less pain may will grow bleaker in autumn, the unemployment office for work
living expenses, his €1,000 mort- prove impossible. In Britain, the when many of Europe’s furlough assisting elderly people and
gage payment and support for his government also acted quickly to programs expire and a tsunami cleaning their homes, he was told
two teenage children. But his sav- protect the economy, and was of new layoffs hits. he would need two years of train-
lauded for the scale of its meas- ing. He also finds himself in com-
ures. A plan to pay up to 80 per- petition with younger workers for

15M
Number of jobless people in
cent of workers’ wages was an-
nounced before the nationwide
lockdown went into force in
CRISTINA QUICLER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES
summer jobs at do-it-yourself
stores and other big shops.
“At age 50, trying to find work is
the European Union in June. March. By the middle of July, 9.5 almost impossible,” he said. “Jobs
million jobs had been furloughed. don’t go to us.”
Still, more than one million peo- Landlords won’t rent to Mr.
Furlough programs ple have fallen through the gaps in
these support programs, includ-
Hombert because he has no job,
and he faces a wait of up to four
don’t shelter contract ing the self-employed and short- years for public housing. Without
term workers, according to a par- a home, he worries he won’t be
workers or the newly liamentary select committee re- able to host his children, who
port.
self-employed. Thousands have found a col-
stayed with him every other week
after the divorce.
lective voice online using the “It’s hard to live,” Mr. Hombert
ings were liquidated last year hashtag #ExcludedUK, whose said, his voice faltering. “You hear
when he and his wife divorced and founders conducted research
stories about people winding up
he bought her share of the apart- showing that at least three million
on the street and you think, ‘That
ment, in Fresnes, a working-class people are receiving little or no
could be me.’ It’s frightening.”
suburb south of Paris. support from the government.
Sonali Joshi, one of the Enrico Bergamini, the author of
When the pandemic wiped out a report on inequality arising from
his contracts, the catering firms founders, owns a film company
working with Asian cinema. As Covid-19 for Bruegel, a think tank
that employed him put only per-
the director of the company, she in Brussels, said government pol-
manent staff on furlough, reaping
gets most of her income from divi- icy responses to the crisis still left
a subsidy from the government
dends, making her ineligible for too many facing unprecedented
for not firing them.
Europe’s furlough subsidy pro- the government’s self-employ- vulnerability.
grams don’t extend the same ben- ment income support program. “The issue will be how do we re-
efit to contract workers, throwing The parliamentary report esti- cover from this shock, which is
Mr. Hombert into an uncertain fu- mates there are 710,000 others widening inequality gaps,” Mr.
ture. like Ms. Joshi locked out of aid this Bergamini said.
His jobless benefits, which are way. “Workers are unprotected and
FINBARR O’REILLY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
less than half his normal income, “We’re stuck in this situation of vulnerable because we let them
last for only 180 days under unem- real uncertainty,” Ms. Joshi said. there.” ing, though all of her projects were her. be.”
ployment rules governing the ca- “Four months have passed al- Ms. Joshi faced unappealing op- on pause. In the end, she chose The situation will grow bleaker
tering industry. After they expire ready, but we don’t know how to tions, including putting herself on furlough. But with business down, in autumn, when many of Eu- Eshe Nelson contributed reporting
in mid-August, he will go onto recover in many ways without the furlough to earn about 500 pounds she can’t give any new projects to rope’s furlough programs expire from London, and Théophile
France’s basic welfare, which pro- support that really should be ($637) a month, or continue work- the 200 freelancers who work with and a tsunami of new layoffs hits. Larcher from Paris.
B4 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

TECHNOLOGY

One-Third of TikTok’s U.S. Users May Be 14 or Under Employees

FROM FIRST BUSINESS PAGE At Pinterest
The number of users who Tik-
Tok believes might be younger
than 13 raises questions about
Take Actions
whether the company is doing
enough to protect them. In the
United States, the Children’s On-
For Equality
line Privacy Protection Act re- By ERIN GRIFFITH
quires internet platforms to ob- The messages used words like dis-
tain parental permission before appointed, disheartened, an-
collecting personal information gered, upset, ashamed, frus-
on children under 13. The opera-
trated, infuriated, disillusioned,
tors of Musical.ly, an app that was
merged into TikTok in 2018, paid a deeply saddened and disturbed.
$5.7 million fine last year to settle On Friday, 236 employees of Pin-
accusations from the Federal terest, a company known for its
Trade Commission that it had bro- virtual pinboards, expressed soli-
ken those rules. darity on an internal chat app with
TikTok declined to comment on three former co-workers who
the user numbers. In response to have accused the company of ra-
questions about the safety of cial and sex discrimination and re-
younger users, a company repre- taliation.
sentative referred to measures Many of the employees also
such as allowing parents to con- shared and signed an online peti-
trol what their teenagers see on tion calling on Ben Silbermann,
the app and how much time they Pinterest’s chief executive and co-
can spend on it. founder, to change the company’s
TikTok and its owner, the Chi- policies.
nese social media giant Then they logged off, staging a
ByteDance, have been in the cross virtual walkout.
hairs of the Trump administra-
The series of actions were the
tion, which is concerned that the
latest in a growing employee
app could help the Chinese Com-
munist Party obtain Americans’ movement of discrimination law-
private information. Mr. Trump suits, harassment accusations
this month indicated his support and walkouts over injustices
for Microsoft or another Ameri- across the tech industry and the
can company to buy TikTok’s U.S. investors who fund it.
TAYLOR JOHNSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
operations as a way to allay the se- The Pinterest accusations
TikTok users in New Jersey. The video app classified more than a third of its 49 million daily users in July in the U.S. as being 14 years old or younger.
curity fears. stand out because they include
But any deal for TikTok would some of the highest-ranking exec-
require buyers to contend not just over-14 users, around 20 million. understand our users and allow online that reveals his or her age, Commercial-Free Childhood was utives at the $21 billion company.
with political pressures, but also The rest of TikTok’s U.S. users our safety team to better protect or from concerned parents’ noti- one of 20 groups that complained In a lawsuit this week, Françoise
with issues that can become were classified as being of un- the safety of our younger teens in fying the platform that their to the F.T.C., saying that TikTok Brougher, Pinterest’s former chief
thorny at all social media plat- known age. particular.” young one is using it. was flouting its agreement with operating officer, accused the
forms, including content guide- TikTok does not rely only on us- TikTok primarily uses the clas- Critics have argued, however, the agency. company of sex discrimination,
lines, data collection practices and ers’ self-reported dates of birth to sification system to inform corpo- that this standard creates an in- According to the data seen by retaliation and wrongful termina-
safety protections for children. categorize them into age groups. rate strategy, according to the centive for online platforms to The Times, TikTok’s youthful tion. When she spoke up about a
The app’s large audience of young It also estimates their ages using people with knowledge of the mat- willfully ignore the issue of demographics in the United sexist remark from a colleague,
fans makes it a big draw for adver- other methods, including facial ter. TikTok’s policy teams use the whether their visitors are under- States are echoed in Western Eu- she was fired, the lawsuit alleges.
tisers, but also invites extra scru- numbers to create rules for mod- age. rope, where the app is also popu-
recognition algorithms that scru- She followed the suit with a
tiny of its privacy safeguards. erators to follow, deciding, for in- Josh Golin, the executive direc- lar. lengthy blog post, “The Pinterest
TikTok asks for a birth date stance, what should be done if an tor of the advocacy group Cam- In Britain, the share of daily us-
Paradox: Cupcakes and Toxicity,”
when users register an account. underage user is communicating paign for a Commercial-Free ers who were classified as 14 or
In the United States, those who Questions of whether with an adult on the app. Childhood, said TikTok had a duty younger was around 43 percent
which was widely shared in tech
circles.
say they are under 13 are allowed One of the former employees, this spring, the data shows. In
to use only a walled-off mode strong safeguards for who left TikTok this year, said the
to investigate if its own systems
Germany, the share was more A Pinterest spokeswoman said
were indicating that so many us- in a statement in response to the
within the app in which they can-
not share personal information or
youths are in place. app did not use the classifications
to automatically restrict or take
ers might be under 13. than 35 percent, and in France in
February, it was 45 percent. walkout that the company re-
videos. Yet the concerns are that “I would argue, once their sys- spected and heard the employees
down videos that might be from These proportions may have
some under-13 users may lie to get tinize profile pictures and videos, users under 13, or to secure per- tems have indicated to them that a and would ensure an open dia-
fallen as TikTok has grown in pop-
around the age restrictions, and said two former TikTok employ- mission from those users’ parents user is likely under 13, that they logue with them.
ularity. In June 2019, nearly half of
that the platform is not obtaining ees and one current employee, or guardians. are past the point where they can the daily users in the United “We know we have real work to
the required consent from those who declined to be identified be- This raises the question of bury their head in the sand, that States were estimated to be 14 or do and recognize that it’s our job
users’ guardians. cause details of the company’s whether TikTok is responsible for their legal obligation has kicked younger, internal data shows. The to build a diverse, equitable and
Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co- practices are confidential. acting upon what it knows about in,” he said. share in Germany that month was inclusive environment for every-
founder, recently told Wired mag- Another way TikTok estimates those who are under 13, particu- Angela J. Campbell, a law pro- around 40 percent. one,” she said.
azine that TikTok was a “poison users’ ages, these people said, is larly in light of last year’s F.T.C. fessor at Georgetown University Like the United States, the Eu-
who is on the advocacy group’s Scrutiny of Pinterest’s treat-
chalice” for any buyer, referring to by comparing their activity and fine for violating the federal chil- ropean Union requires online ment of its workers began in June
its complexity. social connections in the app dren’s online privacy law. board, said, “You could argue: services to obtain parental con-
Well, they’re not 100 percent sure” when two former employees,
“Being big in the social media against those of users whose ages The law stipulates that if inter- sent for processing children’s
that those users are under 13. “But Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica
business is no simple game,” he have already been estimated. The net services have “actual knowl- data. The body that coordinates
you’re never going to be 100 per- Shimizu Banks, spoke out on Twit-
said. company might also draw upon in- edge” that a visitor is under 13, enforcement of the E.U.’s data pro-
The TikTok data seen by The formation about users that is cent sure. Given that there’s that ter about their experiences at the
they have to obtain parental con- tection rules announced in June
Times shows that the number of bought from other sources. sent or else delete the user’s per- many under 14, it seems incon- that it was conducting a review of company, describing racist and
daily U.S. users in July whom the In a statement, TikTok said: “As sonal information. The F.T.C. said ceivable to me that they could TikTok’s practices. The French sexist comments, pay inequities,
company estimated to be 14 or is standard practice across our in- on its website that such knowl- claim at all that they don’t know and British privacy watchdogs and retaliation. They had left the
younger — 18 million — was al- dustry,” the company conducts edge might come, for instance, this.” have also said they are investigat- company in May and spoke up af-
most as large as the number of “high-level age-modeling to better from a child’s posting information In May, the Campaign for a ing the app. ter Pinterest expressed solidarity
with the Black Lives Matter
movement.
“As a Black woman, seeing
How Apple’s 30% App Store Cut Became a Boon and a Headache @Pinterest’s middle of the night
‘Black employees matter’ state-
FROM FIRST BUSINESS PAGE ment made me scratch my head
including the app stores from nascent and the digital transac-
week when Epic Games, the Google, Microsoft and Samsung, tions were complicated without after I just fought for over a full
maker of Fortnite, arguably the and the game stores from Nin- Apple’s help. year to be paid and leveled fairly,”
world’s most popular video game, tendo, Sony’s PlayStation and With Apple, “it was pretty much Ms. Ozoma tweeted. A petition
sued both Apple and Google, ac- Microsoft’s Xbox. one click and that was revolution- asking Pinterest to pay its Black
cusing the companies of breaking Amazon’s Twitch gaming plat- ary,” Mr. Shoemaker said. “So peo- employees fairly reached 25,000
antitrust laws by forcing app mak- form collects 50 percent, accord- ple were willing to bite that 30 per- signatures.
ers to pay their 30 percent fees. ing to the study. By comparison, cent. But now, those kinds of tools In response, Pinterest hired a
The lawsuits followed Apple and Amazon, eBay and Walmart are a dime a dozen.” consultant to review the compa-
Google’s removal of Fortnite from charge 6 percent to 17 percent for Indeed, many companies now ny’s culture, policies and prac-
their app stores because Epic en- sales of goods on their websites, protesting Apple’s fee seem will- tices. After Ms. Brougher sued, a
couraged users to pay it directly, the study said. ing to pay something, just not 30 Pinterest spokeswoman said it
rather than through Apple or What the study didn’t note: Ap- percent. was reviewing the suit and took all
Google, to avoid their fees. ple popularized the 30 percent cut. Epic made $1.8 billion on Fort- concerns raised seriously.
“I think we’re realizing that 30 It applied that rate on any pur- nite last year, in large part by sell- Unlike some of its peers in Sili-
percent is way too much,” said chases of an app in 2008, and then ing digital currency that players con Valley, Pinterest, which caters
Phillip Shoemaker, a former sen- a year later on any transactions need to buy new features inside to a majority female audience, is
ior App Store executive, who left inside of apps for digital goods and the game. The game itself is free. not known for having a hard-
Apple in 2016. Credit card compa- On Thursday, Epic started its
services, such as a virtual cur- charging “bro” culture. Mr. Silber-
nies charge roughly 3 percent to HARUKA SAKAGUCHI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
confrontation with the tech giants
Apple’s App Store has become a major part of the company’s business
rency in a game or a subscription mann is an introvert who avoids
process payments. “It should be by allowing Fortnite users to pay
in recent years, facilitating half a trillion dollars in sales last year alone.
to a music, TV or dating app. Ap- press hype. One of Pinterest’s
closer to that,” he said. it directly in its iPhone and An-
ple does not take a cut of apps’ stated values is “knitting,” which
That is the rising sentiment droid apps, rather than via Apple
sales of advertising or physicals it uses to mean collaboration.
among app developers, con- or Google’s payment systems.
“Either we lose because we the retail price went to middle- goods, and thus most apps don’t But being known for having a
sumers and regulators. Apple and Epic also offered a 20 percent
have to pay them a 30 percent tax men. pay a fee. “nice” culture has not made Pin-
Google, which together are worth discount on all purchases that
just to operate and raise our “In the more than a decade So how did Apple arrive at 30 terest immune to the issues of pay
more than $3 trillion, make the used its payment system. That
prices for consumers as a result, since the App Store debuted, we percent? disparities and other discrimina-
software that backs virtually all of meant that if Apple and Google
or we lose because it becomes have never raised the commission There was some precedent; Ap- tion that have plagued the tech in-
the world’s smartphones. That charged a 10 percent commission,
much more expensive to convert or added a single fee,” he told law- ple had been charging roughly the dustry.
dominance has allowed them to their price would be about the
users from free to premium,” Ho- makers. “The App Store evolves same commission on music sales
keep their commissions high. same as the one Epic was offering “The reason I spoke up and put
racio Gutierrez, Spotify’s chief le- with the times, and every change on its iTunes software. For each 99
But now that the tech giants’ its customers. my name on the record is because,
gal officer, told reporters in June we have made has been in the di- cent song it sold, Apple passed on
smartphones have become the Epic has also shown that run- in that culture, it’s so difficult to do
after European regulators opened rection of providing a better expe- 72 cents to major music labels and
only way other businesses reach ning a profitable app store is pos- that and I knew how important it
millions of people, those busi- an antitrust investigation into Ap- rience for our users and a compel-
sible with a lower commission. It would be in allowing other people
nesses are increasingly pleading: ple based on Spotify’s complaint. ling business opportunity for de-
Do you really need a third of my Even consumers have spoken velopers.” Antitrust scrutiny, runs its own online marketplace
for other developers to distribute
to speak up,” Ms. Ozoma said in an
interview on Friday, noting that
up. An enormous class-action law- For Google, the stakes are
sales?
“There are very few companies suit accuses Apple of breaking an- lower. It allows people to down- angry developers their games on desktop comput- she supported the employee walk-
ers. In that store, it takes 12 per- out “wholeheartedly.”
out there that have a 30 percent titrust laws to enforce its commis-
sion, inflating app prices for
load apps from outside of its An-
droid app store, meaning app
and a lot of lawsuits. cent of sales — and still makes a Ms. Brougher said in an inter-
profit margin,” said Andy Yen, the profit of 5 percent to 7 percent, the view this week that she hoped her
chief executive of ProtonMail, an iPhone users. The Supreme Court makers like Epic have ample company said.
ruled last year the lawsuit could ways to still reach consumers us- 62 cents to independent labels, ac- lawsuit could help women in simi-
email service. “The only way we Yet at Apple, the discussion has
proceed. ing Android devices. And Google’s cording to The Wall Street Journal lar situations. On Friday she
can support this fee is by passing long been about how to maximize
that cost on to customers.” Pro- On Friday, Facebook chimed in, vast online advertising business in 2007. tweeted: “I stand in solidarity
profits. In 2011, Apple executives
tonMail charges 30 percent less complaining that Apple is collect- makes its app store a much small- When Apple began setting rules with the Pinterest employees par-
were discussing how much to
for subscriptions purchased on its ing 30 percent of sales on its new er portion of its overall business. for the App Store, “30 percent was charge content providers like ticipating in today’s walkout.
website, but when the company live-events service, where people Over the past year, Apple has just kind of a no-brainer,” said Mr. Hulu and the NBA for new When we speak out, we create
advertised that to its iPhone us- can sell expert talks, fitness collected $19 billion of the $63.4 Shoemaker, who joined the com- customers who signed up via Ap- change!”
ers, Apple restricted its app. classes and cooking tutorials on billion in sales of digital goods and pany in early 2009. “It was, ‘Of ple TV, according to internal The petition asks Pinterest to
Likewise, Spotify increased its Facebook’s app. Facebook said it services on iPhone and iPad apps, course that’s what we’re going to emails provided to House law- provide full transparency about
monthly subscription to $13 from wanted to process the payments according to Sensor Tower, an app use.’ Nobody questioned it.” makers investigating Apple. promotion levels, retention and
$10 in 2014 to account for Apple’s itself so it could pass on 100 per- analytics firm. Google collected In 2008, when Apple introduced Jai Chulani, one Apple execu- pay. It also asked Pinterest to en-
fee. A year later, Apple introduced cent of the sales to the small busi- $10 billion of the $33.8 billion in the App Store, the company’s late tive, said in an email to colleagues sure that the two layers of man-
a competing music service — nesses selling the talks and similar spending on its app store, co-founder Steve Jobs told The that he worried that if Apple agement that report to the chief
priced at $10. To compete, Spotify classes, but Apple declined. Sensor Tower said. New York Times: “We are not try- charged 30 percent of the first executive were made up of 25 per-
opted out of Apple’s payment sys- Apple argues that it has actu- Before Mr. Cook’s testimony to ing to be business partners” with year of a subscription “we may be cent women and 8 percent under-
tem, enabling it to avoid the com- ally cut software developers a Congress, at a House hearing fo- app developers. Rather, he added, leaving money on the table.” represented minorities.
mission. Now customers can still break. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief ex- cused on the power of Big Tech, Apple wanted to “sell more Eddy Cue, one of Apple’s most
use Spotify’s app, but they must ecutive, suggested to Congress Apple commissioned a study that iPhones.” senior executives, responded with
subscribe on Spotify’s website. last month that when software showed its cut was in line with At the time, there was far less a better idea: “For recurring sub- The Times Book Review,
Yet Apple bars Spotify from say- was still sold in brick-and-mortar what many other platforms pushback from app developers, in scriptions, we should ask for
ing that in its iPhone app. stores, 50 percent to 70 percent of charged for similar distribution, part because the App Store was so 40%.” every Sunday
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N B5

TRADE

STEVE MARCUS/REUTERS

MP Materials’ mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., is the only operational rare earth mine in the United States. With the facility still being modernized, the company currently sends the ores it mines there to China for processing.

U.S. Companies Scramble to Build Rare Earths Industry

By ZACH MONTAGUE Australian company already ex- nies that have yet to break tive of USA Rare Earths, said that
WASHINGTON — An effort by the tracting ores from a mine in Aus- ground. the company had had promising
Trump administration to break tralia, which entered its bid in Companies like Ucore and USA results processing ores in small
China’s stranglehold on the pro- partnership with Blue Line Corpo- Rare Earths, which owns a 70 per- amounts through a pilot program,
duction of coveted metals vital to ration, a processing company cent stake in Texas Mineral Re- and that he hoped to have its
national security and many indus- based in Texas. The amount of the sources Corporation, have been Round Top mine, near El Paso,
tries has ignited a battle among award was not disclosed. aggressively making the case that running by 2023.
domestic mining companies and After the announcement, Sena- they can turn their mines into suc- The Round Top mine must still
their political allies to win hun- tor Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, cess stories. Both have promoted prove it is economically viable. In
dreds of millions of dollars in fed- wrote to Secretary of Defense advanced processing technolo- part because of the relatively low
eral aid. Mark T. Esper protesting the se- gies and mounted lobbying ef- concentrations of rare earth min-
The metals, known as rare lection. He was joined by five forts, but have yet to advance be- erals at the site, the company
earths, are used in products as di- other Republican lawmakers, in- yond an exploratory stage. plans to process and market
verse as smartphones, electric ve- cluding Senators Michael B. Enzi From 2019 through the begin- around a dozen other substances
and John Barrasso of Wyoming, ning of this year, USA Rare Earth present there, such as lithium,
hicles and wind turbines as well as
whose state is home to the Bear was represented by Jeff Miller, a which together would account for
military hardware. Concern about
Lodge mine owned by Rare Ele- prominent Republican lobbyist more than two-thirds of its reve-
ensuring access to them has
ment Resources. The letter ar- who served on Mr. Trump’s inau- nue.
grown more intense since the
gued that the Pentagon should di- gural committee and also helped Other substances the company
trade dispute between the United
rect funding only to companies op- AL DRAGO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
direct Rick Perry’s presidential has said it could produce, such as
States and China, which domi- In May, Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill that would set aside $50 million
erating entirely in the United campaign in 2016. A lobbying re- “yellowcake” uranium and beryl-
nates global production, escalat- for the Pentagon to fund rare earth projects through 2024.
States. port from July indicates that USA lium, are known carcinogens and
ed.
A spokesman for Mr. Cruz said Rare Earth specifically lobbied in require expensive and complex
The administration’s eagerness
the senator was only interested in support of Mr. Cruz’s bill.
to foster more domestic capacity
building a domestic supply chain, In June, the chief executive of
80%
has set off a scramble in the small
and not pushing on behalf of any Ucore, Jim McKenzie, who had
industry, enticing a number of up-
specific company. “The govern- run the company since 2007,
start companies with no track
ment should never pick winners stepped down two months after Amount of rare earths China
record of mining or refining rare
and losers, which is a task for the the company lost out to MP Ma- supplies to the United States.
earths, some of which have back- marketplace,” he said in an email. terials and Lynas for the grant
ing from powerful friends in Con-
Industry experts have cau- they won. Ucore has not started
gress.
tioned that the few other compa- mining or produced any signifi-
With China supplying about 80
percent of rare earths to the
nies that could conceivably meet cant revenue since its founding in Trump authorized
the ideal of purely domestic pro- 2006, according to its financial fil-
United States as of 2018, the
Trump administration has set a
duction are almost certainly many ings. funding to aid
years away from that stage, and While the new funding for rare
goal of moving the entire supply face considerable challenges in earth production is closely tied to domestic production.
chain of rare earth metals to getting there. national security interests, the
American soil. And as political in- “We kind of consider it to take military represents only a fraction
terest in the industry has grown, procedures to process safely.
almost a decade to bring a rare of the market. To be economically “Nobody has ever seen a
so has interest from Wall Street. earths project from first mineral viable in the long run, rare earth
By all accounts, building a do- project like it anywhere in the
identification through to produc- companies largely depend on world,” said David R. Henderson,
mestic industry is an ambitious tion, and that’s really considering
DAVID BECKER/REUTERS
commercial demand, which has
undertaking. The United States Samples of rare earth minerals from the Mountain Pass mine. MP Materials the president of Rittenhouse In-
that everything goes relatively grown slowly over time. ternational Resources, a specialty
has only one operational rare announced a deal to go public in July, opening up to outside investment.
smoothly,” said David Merriman, While the United States was materials trading firm.
earths mine, in Mountain Pass, a manager at Roskill, a commod- once a global leader in rare earths
Calif. Experts say that if the current
ities analysis company based in production in the mid-20th cen- political momentum lasts, one or
The site was acquired out of London. “For the U.S. to really be tury, it gradually ceded its domi-
bankruptcy in 2017 by MP Ma- more new sites in the United
able to support itself, it can’t really nance to China, where lax envi- States could nonetheless start
terials, an American company be waiting on projects that are go- ronmental regulations make it
that is working to refurbish a pro- production, given enough time,
ing to take six, seven, eight, may- easier to undertake highly pollut-
cessing facility there that dates to money and tolerance for pollution.
be up to 10 years to really come to ing mining activities. Since then,
the 1950s. With the facility still be- completion.” “If you put enough money in it,
Chinese companies have also
ing modernized, the company cur- something will come out the other
To help spur the industry’s de- come to dominate the business of
rently sends the ores it mines to velopment in the United States, separating out the metals from end, that just doesn’t make it a
China for processing. President Trump issued direc- ores. good investment,” said Eugene
MP Materials announced a deal tives a year ago authorizing fund- After China caused a surge in Gholz, a professor of political sci-
to go public in July, merging with a ing for domestic companies work- rare earth prices by constricting ence at the University of Notre
blank-check company and open- ing across five different stages of supply in 2010, a raft of investors Dame. “You could go get investors
ing itself up to outside investment. rare earth production, including and companies popped up in and risk investors’ money, but it’s
MP Materials expects to raise refining and manufacturing fin- search of commercially viable even better if you can go get gov-
about $490 million through the ished products. ways to build a rare earths busi- ernment money, in terms of stack-
deal. The company has also faced According to a Defense Depart- ness in the United States. But ing the deck in favor of your own
political scrutiny over one of its in- ment proposal obtained by The China quickly reversed course, profitability.”
vestors, a Chinese company that New York Times, the Pentagon SIM CHI YIN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES causing prices to plummet, and But given current global de-
owned nearly 10 percent of MP has already designated at least A processing plant in 2013 in Tianjin, China, that makes products using rare undercutting efforts to build an mand for rare earths, questions
Materials before the deal diluted $125 million under the Defense earths. China caused a surge in rare earth prices by limiting supply in 2010. American industry. remain about whether the market
its stake. Production Act for funding rare Rare earths companies face a is ready to absorb another mining
For years, a number of fledgling earth projects through this year. slew of other hurdles in the United venture, and whether any com-
companies have been working to By law, the department can spend earth products by recycling the lion for the Pentagon to fund rare States. Separating and marketing pany can survive long term with-
develop sites in other states. They $50 million in each of the five cate- metals from scrapped electronics earth projects every year through the unique blend of metals com- out prolonged government invest-
include Ucore in Alaska, Texas gories identified by the White containing them. 2024, and would use tax incen- pounds at any given site requires ment.
Mineral Resources Corporation in House, up to $250 million. The ad- According to Urban Mining tives to let manufacturers write technical expertise and strategy, “The government wants to, in
Texas, and Rare Element Re- ministration has pressed Con- Company’s website, it employs off double the cost of any domestic and new mines face a lengthy en- the best case, change the playing
sources in Wyoming. Despite sit- gress, so far unsuccessfully, for around 25 people. Since 2018, it rare earths they bought. Another vironmental permitting process, field for these new producers, pick
ting on rare earth deposits for more. has paid at least $240,000 to a lob- bill introduced in 2019 by Senator in part because of radioactive them out and give them a better
years, none has broken ground or The Energy Department is also bying firm run by Jeffrey A. Marco Rubio of Florida would cre- wastes from the ore that require shot, and maybe that will work,”
begun processing the metals in offering nearly $160 million for Green, a specialist in rare earths ate a cooperative of rare earth safe disposal. Mr. Schelter said.
meaningful amounts. rare earths research and develop- who has represented Ucore since companies that would act as a mo- “In some sense, the first steps “Maybe a couple of them will be
In April, MP Materials was one ment this year. at least 2011, according to the Cen- nopoly. are relatively easy and well-un- able to get established and have a
of two companies selected for a Last month, the Pentagon in- ter for Responsive Politics. While the amounts of proposed derstood, but the real challenge to process that is sustainable long-
Pentagon award focused on pro- voked the Defense Production Act A spokesman for Urban Mining federal aid are small by Pentagon make money is to do the separa- term, both in terms of the econ-
duction of a narrow class of rare to award nearly $30 million to Ur- Company did not immediately re- procurement standards — a sin- tion,” said Eric J. Schelter, a pro- omy and environment,” he said.
earth metals critical to many mili- ban Mining Company, a small spond to requests for comment. gle F-35 fighter plane costs nearly fessor of chemistry at the Univer- “But at this point it’s too soon and
tary devices. Funding was also company in Texas, which has said In May, Mr. Cruz introduced a $80 million — they are a signifi- sity of Pennsylvania. too hard to tell which, or any, of
awarded to Lynas Corporation, an it can manufacture finished rare bill that would set aside $50 mil- cant boost to early-stage compa- Pini Althaus, the chief execu- those it would be.”
B6 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

Personal Finance

Helping Girls Step Up to Entrepreneurship

A nonprofit’s five-week virtual program teaches financial and business skills, and builds confidence.
virtual after the pandemic closed completing the initial program, she
Wealth Matters schools and offices. The program has became eligible for the Boardroom, a
By PAUL SULLIVAN always used Zoom, so it was able to more involved mentoring program to
work out the kinks in the years before help participants continue to develop
the coronavirus sent teachers and their idea.
As the school year ended and summer students online. But not everyone is an entrepreneur,
began, Page Curtin, a mother of three, “The world has finally gotten with so Girls With Impact has added a series
was looking at a summer of canceled the fact that digital learning is here,” of programs it calls future-ready work-
plans for her children. Her daughter Ms. Openshaw said. “When Covid hit, shops. They include hourlong seminars
M.G., 12, would not be going to sleep- we went into schools with our program, on innovation, money and email eti-
away camp as planned. and they were not prepared. Now, par- quette, as well as a primer on en-
Then she heard through her hus- ents are seeing that if it’s done well, it trepreneurship that may direct girls to
band’s employer about a program that can keeps kids advancing and pre- its flagship program. They cost $15 to
aimed to teach girls financial, entrepre- pared.” $20 each.
neurial and business skills in a five- An ancillary benefit of many parents “We’re very upfront with the girls
week virtual program. M.G. jumped at working from home during the pan- that the end goal for everyone may not
the opportunity, and during the pro- demic is that qualified working mothers be running a business,” said Liz
gram she joined other girls to create a with extra time are asking about be- Czepiel, an instructor for Girls With
mask awareness campaign that would coming a mentor or coach. “The power Impact and a business coach who has
be driven by tweens. of this is, it’s more accessible to people
The program, Girls With Impact, even in remote areas,” Ms. Openshaw
“became a great Plan B,” Ms. Curtin said. ‘This pandemic has
said. “It provided a little bit of structure
to the week. She had homework, and
In its original incarnation, the pro- exposed so many
gram brought together girls from differ-
she was accountable for each session.”
It also helped her daughter begin to
ent socioeconomic backgrounds who Americans’ financial
lived relatively close to one another.
understand things many parents fret But it has expanded to reach girls
vulnerabilities.’
about for their children: knowledge of Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz,
around the country, with some paying
personal finances, business skills and chair and president of the
the full $495 tuition for the program and
the ability to collaborate. Charles Schwab Foundation
others receiving financial aid through
Financial literacy programs are
the group’s mix of individual and corpo-
intended to give children an under-
rate donors. worked with executives at Bain, Spotify
standing of business skills at an early
The program has allowed partici- and United Rentals. “But this is a taste
age. The practical guidelines they learn
pants to focus on real-world issues like of what that might entail. Success defi-
will help them later when they need to
the pandemic and the Black Lives nitely centers around building confi-
make decisions about cars, college and
Matter movement. dence.”
debt, and the lessons will stick with
them as they begin to manage their “One of our graduates said en- About three weeks before the stay-at-
own finances in their 20s. trepreneurship is activism in disguise,” home orders were put in place, Ms.
Private banks and wealth managers said Josephine Panzera, the organiza- Openshaw addressed a group of women
have for years designed programs to tion’s chief operating officer, who has a packed onto a veranda at a fund-raiser
help the children of their wealthiest background in corporate finance. “She at a home in Greenwich, Conn.
clients with these skills. But Girls With wants to take her frustration and exe- Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News
Impact is a nonprofit organization cute on it.” anchor who was instrumental in the
created by a group of successful busi- Neha Shukla, a 15-year-old high #MeToo movement, spoke about the
nesswomen. school sophomore in Mechanicsburg, challenges she faced.
A majority of parents surveyed this Pa., began worrying in April about her But it was the young women who
year ranked financial literacy at the top grandparents contracting the coro- talked about their ventures who
of their list of noncore courses they navirus. brought the affluent women to consider
wanted taught in school, according to a MARCUS SMITH FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES She applied to the program, and with making donations. One of them, Kellie
report to be released next week by the Neha Shukla, 15, started a Girls With Impact program in April and by June had a prototype her interest in engineering and technol- Taylor, 19 and a Girls With Impact
Charles Schwab Foundation. The report for her invention: a hat with sensors that beep and vibrate to aid in social distancing. ogy, she began working on a device that participant, started her business two
surveyed 5,000 people in February would keep people six feet apart. The years ago as a senior in high school.
before the pandemic took hold and result is a hat with sensors that beep Her company, named Cleo after her
The aim of Girls With Impact is to ers after the course, versus 47 percent and vibrate when someone breaches grandmother, is building an app to find
2,000 more in June. push the students to grow comfortable before, and 91 percent said they were
Second was health and wellness, at the six-foot perimeter. beauty and fashion resources for Afri-
discussing money and ideas with new more confident raising their hand, an
around 40 percent; college placement “I just realized that it’s difficult to can-American women and girls.
people their own age and learn skills increase from 44 percent at the start.
finished third. When parents were estimate six feet,” Neha said. “Once I Ms. Taylor, who grew up in Stratford,
that may spur them to go into business More than 80 percent said they were
asked about the importance of various themselves. better equipped to manage cash flow in programmed the device, wired, sol- Conn., said her business was inspired
life skills to their children, learning “You can go online and learn pieces a business and felt more financially dered and assembled it, it really came by her braids. “I had the hardest time
money management tied with the dan- of this, but the beauty of this program is literate in general. together. You no longer have to guess.” finding someone in Stratford or Bridge-
gers of drugs and alcohol. in the structure, the experience of being Interest in the program has surged. It’s been a hit with her friends, too: port to do my hair,” she said.
“This pandemic has exposed so in a setting with peers” who might In the six months of the pandemic, “The ultrasonic sensors look like eyes; Nervous at first to even try starting a
many Americans’ financial vulnerabili- question your ideas, said Jennifer more than 2,900 girls have completed it’s really cute.” business, she said, she was encouraged
ties,” said Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, Openshaw, the chief executive of Girls the program, increasing the number it Through the initial stage of the pro- by her mother. Two years later, Ms.
chair and president of the Charles With Impact and a former Wall Street has reached since starting two years gram, called the Academy, Neha has Taylor is refining it, and she is working
Schwab Foundation. “People are executive. “It can be scary.” ago. In total, 3,175 girls have partici- filed for a patent and is working on with the same mentor.
putting a high priority on educating this When the organization surveyed pated in the program. upgrading the technology to include “I still have my mentor’s number,”
next generation, so they don’t experi- graduates of the program, it found that In some ways, Girls With Impact had voice commands. What she has found she said. “I text her whenever I need
ence what they’re experiencing today.” 81 percent viewed themselves as lead- an advantage when the world went most helpful is the mentorship. After her help.”

New Fee on Some College Bills: It’s for the Virus

Students are being asked to share the ‘extraordinary’ costs of testing and reconfiguring campus facilities.

Your Money Adviser Q. and A. on Coronavirus Fees

By ANN CARRNS
Will my health insurance plan reim- . ............................................................................

burse me for college-required coro- If I get sick with the virus while attend-
College students are used to seeing fees navirus tests? ing college, will my campus health
on their semester bills: activity fees,
Maybe. Many insurers, in general, insurance plan cover my care?
lab fees, athletic fees, technology fees,
cover tests for the virus only if they Health insurance plans, including
orientation fees and so on.
This year, some students are noticing are deemed “medically necessary,” those created for and sold through
a new item: coronavirus fees. which typically means a patient has colleges to students, cover coro-
Faced with extra expenses for symptoms or an order from a physi- navirus-related care in the same way
screening and testing students for the cian. Screening tests for people who they cover other illnesses, said Eliza-
virus, and for reconfiguring campus don’t have symptoms — which is what beth Marks, senior strategy consultant
facilities for safety, some colleges and many colleges are doing — may not be with Academic HealthPlans. Even if a
universities are asking students to pay covered at no cost. student is sent home because the
a share of the cost. St. Michael’s College acknowledged campus switches to remote classes,
The level of testing and protective that possibility. “The college can pro- she said, the health plan generally
steps, and the associated cost, vary
vide families with evidence of the would cover care as long as the stu-
widely by campus. Some colleges are
testing all students at the start of the payment and what it was for so that dent remained eligible, which typically
semester, while others will also test they can seek reimbursement from means the student is enrolled for a
repeatedly throughout the academic their insurance company,” the website minimum number of credit hours.
term. Testing is mandatory at some says. “However, our understanding is . ............................................................................
campuses, voluntary at others. “It that most insurance companies will My college bill includes a “student
really varies,” said Lynn Pasquerella, not reimburse for asymptomatic test- health” fee. Does that mean I have
president of the Association of Ameri- ing, which is what the college will be
can Colleges and Universities. health insurance?
doing in nearly all cases.” No. Most colleges charge all students
The University of Michigan is charg-
But Stephanie Cohen, an insurance a mandatory health fee, which typical-
ing a $50-per-term coronavirus fee this
year. Revenue from the fee will help broker near Washington, D.C., said ly covers the cost of primary care,
cover the costs of testing and other major health insurers seemed “likely” counseling and health education at a
pandemic-related health and safety to reimburse for tests required under campus health center; a per-visit fee
services, a spokesman said. Details of TILL LAUER
formal college testing programs. She may also be charged. But the fee does-
the measures are still being worked advised students to contact their n’t cover more extensive treatment.
out. Other colleges may still be calculat- students back to campus are taking health plans for clarification. Or stu- For that, you would need insurance
Merrimack College, a private institu- ing whether and how to charge fees, aggressive steps to avoid outbreaks. dents could visit their doctor to ex-
tion in North Andover, Mass., is charg- coverage, whether through a plan
since plans for testing and safety proto- Large universities may have the infra- plain the situation, and request a
ing a “Covid mitigation” fee of $475 per offered on campus, a plan you have on
cols are changing daily as the start of structure to conduct multiple tests prescription for the test.
semester to all students taking in- the academic year approaches, health rapidly on thousands of students, Ms. your own or a parent’s health plan.
person classes. experts say. Students are already head- Pasquerella said, but smaller institu-
The college requires students to test ing back to some campuses, but others tions may lack the facilities — or the them. Students can seek tests else- many families and we wish we did not
negative for the coronavirus before won’t show up until after Labor Day. funds — to handle a large volume of where, at a lower cost, as long as the have to charge any fee,” the college
moving into their dorms, and plans to “This is all still emerging,” said Eliza- tests. test meets Elon’s requirements. Ran- says on its website.
conduct weekly surveillance testing beth Marks, senior strategy consultant Baylor University said it was sending dom testing will occur throughout the Brendan Williams, senior director of
throughout the semester — with some with Academic HealthPlans, which home test kits to all students, and is fall, at the university’s expense. knowledge at uAspire, a nonprofit
4,500 on-campus tests expected weekly, provides student health insurance requiring negative results before stu- “We know testing is imperfect,” said group that advocates college afford-
according to its website. Merrimack is plans at campuses across the country. dents arrive on the campus in Waco, Jeff Stein, Elon’s vice president for ability, said in an email that the group
participating in a college testing proto- The Centers for Disease Control and Texas. The school will also conduct strategic initiatives. But the school applauded colleges that were being
col offered by the Broad Institute, an Prevention doesn’t currently recom- testing throughout the semester. Baylor
hopes that the tests, combined with “transparent” about the extra charges,
initiative of Harvard and M.I.T. that mend blanket “entry testing” of return- is covering the costs, a spokeswoman
developed a program to help campuses other protective steps, will help contain rather than quietly folding them into
ing students, faculty and staff. The said.
reopen safely. the virus’s spread. general fees. But, he said, “we don’t
agency’s website notes that such a step Elon University, a private institution
The college didn’t respond to re- hasn’t been systematically studied, and in North Carolina with about 6,300 St. Michael’s College in Vermont is necessarily agree with passing the
quests for comment. But its website it is “unknown” if it would reduce trans- undergraduates, is also sending home charging all students a “comprehen- costs on to the student.”
said that even with budget cuts, the mission of the virus beyond what would testing kits to incoming students. The sive” testing fee of $150 for the fall Several colleges noted that if the
“extraordinary” costs of testing and be expected by using other prevention university will charge students $129, semester, which includes testing at the federal government appropriated
safety measures “are difficult to ab- measures, like social distancing, masks but is giving them time to seek reim- start of the semester and repeat tests money to help colleges pay for testing
sorb,” so a temporary fee was neces- and hand washing. bursement from their health insurer or during the fall. “We know that this is a programs, they would credit all or part
sary. But many colleges that are inviting apply for a fee waiver before billing particularly difficult time financially for of their virus fees back to students.
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N B7

Weather Report Meteorology by AccuWeather

Vancouver
Vancouv
uveerr
e
90s
70s
0s
Metropolitan Forecast
Regina TODAY .....................................Mostly sunny
Seattle
e Winnipeg
eg Quebecc
Spokane High 82. High pressure moving across
H
Halifax
70s northern New England will bring a largely
Portlan
an
nd
nd H10000+ H
Helena Montreal
dry day with sunshine and patchy clouds.
90s Bismarck Por
Portland
Eugen
ne
ne Fargo Ottawa
90s Billings 70s
0s Burlington
n n
M
Ma
Manchester
There will be a brisk breeze at times from
100
100+
B
Boise
70s
St. Paul
St
Toronto
To
Albany
Bos
Boston
the east to northeast.
80s Pierre
Pie Minne
neapolis
n
ne
80s
Buffalo Ha
Hartford
a TONIGHT ..................................Partly cloudy
Casper
9
90s H Milwaukee
e
Detroit
Sio Fallss
Sioux
New York
N Low 67. High pressure to the north will
Reno Cheyenne
nne
ne
Des
es Moines
Chicago
c
Cleve
vel
veland Pittsburg
gh
g
Phi
Philadelphia
continue to be the main weather factor. It
San
nFFrancisco
rancisco
rancisc o
Salt Lake Omaha 70s
0ss
Washington
Washin
as
L will keep the weather dry for the most
City Indianapolis
a
D
Denver 80s Springfield Richmon
R nd
n d
part, with a partly cloudy sky. The air will
Fr
Fr
Fresno e
80s
0s
100+
100+
+ Colorado
o
Kansas
Charleston
e Nor
Norfolk turn a bit cooler than recent nights.
La
Las Topeka City
Vegas
ega
70s Springss St. Louis
Lo Louisville
TOMORROW ..........................Chance of rain
Wichita
Wich Raleigh
gh
Los
Lo
Los
os Angeles
eles Santa F
Fe Nashville L Charlotte High 75. Low pressure approaching from
Oklahoma City Memp
mp
phis the southwest will bring an increase in
90s Little Rock
San
an
n Die
Diiego Phoenix
Pho ix Albuquerque C
Columb
bia
100+ Atlanta
a cloud cover along, with the potential of
Lubbock
Tucson Birmingh
Birmi
Birmingham some rain, depending upon the speed
El Paso Ft. Worth
Dallass
Jackson
o and track of that low pressure system.
90s
100+
J
Jacksonville MONDAY ...........Showers or thunderstorms
Mo
Mobile
Honolulu
olulu
u
San Antonio
Baton
Ba o Rouge
g The low pressure will move away and a
N
New Or
Orlando
80s
0ss
H
Hilo Houston
Hou Orleans Tampa
a cold front will approach from the west.
70
70s
90ss This will lead to periodic clouds and sun-
90
0s 10
100+
00+
00+ 90s Corpus Christi
C Miami shine, with showers or thunderstorms,
50s 80s
Monterre
re
rey
ey
Nassau the best chance being later in the day.
80
80s
60s Weather patterns shown as expected at noon today, Eastern time. TUESDAY
Fairbank
nkks WEDNESDAY ...........................Mostly sunny
TODAY’S HIGHS
70s <0 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100+ Tuesday will be mostly sunny with low
humidity and a gentle-to-moderate
Anch
Anc
Anchorage
nchorage H L
COLD WARM STATIONARY COMPLEX HIGH LOW MOSTLY SHOWERS T-STORMS RAIN FLURRIES SNOW ICE
breeze. High 81. Wednesday will feature
June
Juneau
eau
FRONTS COLD PRESSURE CLOUDY PRECIPITATION
partly sunny sky. High 83.

Highlight: Josephine Not a Threat to the U.S. National Forecast

Tropical Storm Josephine is Showers and thunderstorms will persist
expected to gradually curve over the Southeast. The downpours can
away from the Bahamas extend into part of the Ohio Valley, but
and the East Coast of the may shrink south along part of the Mid-
United States early next Atlantic Coast. Where rain persists, fol-
week. The jet stream is lowing repeated wet weather from earlier
expected to steer days, the risk of flash flooding will be
Steering
Josephine to the north then winds greatest.
northeast next week. The H Much of the Northeast will be dry,
storm may bring some except for showers in eastern New Eng-
heavier rain and gusty land. An offshore tropical feature can
winds to Bermuda Curves away
from the U.S.
raise surf in southeastern New England.
Wednesday night and As a cool front advances, severe thunder-
Thursday. The only impact storms will move across parts of the
to the U.S. may be an central Plains and western Great Lakes.
increase in rip currents Josephine Much of the West will remain dry and
along the beaches. sunny. Heat will build to very dangerous
levels over the Great Basin, deserts and
Pacific Coast. The heat and ongoing
dryness can induce wildfires.

Little Rock 89/ 73 0.92 93/ 72 PC 91/ 66 PC New Delhi 89/ 79 0.23 93/ 81 PC 94/ 81 T
Cities Los Angeles 96/ 72 0 96/ 72 S 91/ 70 PC Riyadh 108/ 82 0 110/ 81 PC 110/ 82 PC
High/low temperatures for the 16 hours ended at 4 Louisville 83/ 71 0.81 88/ 71 C 86/ 65 T Seoul 83/ 76 0.31 82/ 77 Sh 85/ 74 R
p.m. yesterday, Eastern time, and precipitation (in inches) Memphis 88/ 74 0.15 92/ 74 PC 89/ 69 PC Shanghai 100/ 84 0 100/ 82 S 98/ 82 S
for the 16 hours ended at 4 p.m. yesterday. Miami 93/ 79 0 93/ 80 T 94/ 78 PC Singapore 84/ 77 0.24 87/ 77 PC 86/ 78 T
Expected conditions for today and tomorrow. Milwaukee 82/ 67 0 81/ 64 PC 82/ 63 S Sydney 65/ 51 0.26 67/ 55 PC 69/ 52 W
Mpls.-St. Paul 85/ 59 0 79/ 63 C 81/ 61 S Taipei City 91/ 80 0.03 95/ 79 T 95/ 80 T
C ........................ Clouds S .............................Sun Nashville 84/ 71 0.26 89/ 69 T 88/ 67 T Tehran 100/ 80 0 101/ 74 PC 95/ 76 PC
F............................. Fog Sn ....................... Snow New Orleans 90/ 78 0.19 91/ 76 T 93/ 79 PC Tokyo 93/ 81 0 92/ 82 S 95/ 81 C
H .......................... Haze SS .......... Snow showers Norfolk 86/ 76 0.34 84/ 75 T 85/ 74 T
Oklahoma City 96/ 70 0 92/ 70 C 88/ 65 PC Europe Yesterday Today Tomorrow
I............................... Ice T............ Thunderstorms
Omaha 88/ 61 0 85/ 60 S 86/ 65 S Amsterdam 82/ 68 0.13 78/ 64 T 81/ 63 T
PC ............. Partly cloudy Tr ......................... Trace Athens 95/ 77 0 92/ 75 S 91/ 75 S
Orlando 93/ 76 0.20 92/ 77 T 92/ 76 T
R ........................... Rain W ........................ Windy Berlin 82/ 67 0 86/ 62 T 87/ 62 PC
Philadelphia 84/ 70 0 84/ 69 PC 76/ 68 C
Sh ................... Showers –............... Not available Brussels 77/ 66 0.22 80/ 64 T 83/ 63 T
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
116/
86/
89
66
0
0
112/
75/
91
64
PC
PC
112/
78/
90
62
S
C Budapest 81/ 64 0.03 83/ 61 T 80/ 64 T
Recreational Forecast
N.Y.C. region Yesterday Today Tomorrow
Portland, Me. 84/ 65 0 76/ 64 PC 77/ 61 PC Copenhagen 79/ 59 0 79/ 63 S 79/ 64 PC
New York City 86/ 73 0 82/ 67 S 75/ 66 C Portland, Ore. 87/ 61 0 100/ 68 S 100/ 65 PC Dublin 66/ 58 0 67/ 58 T 64/ 57 Sh Sun, Moon and Planets Beach and Ocean Temperatures
Bridgeport 84/ 72 0 82/ 66 S 76/ 64 C Providence 88/ 66 0 78/ 65 PC 76/ 62 Sh Edinburgh 64/ 55 0 66/ 54 PC 62/ 55 PC
Caldwell 88/ 71 0.08 87/ 68 S 75/ 66 C Raleigh 86/ 72 0.05 84/ 72 T 83/ 68 T Frankfurt 79/ 67 0.19 82/ 63 T 86/ 65 S New First Quarter Full Last Quarter
Danbury 85/ 63 0 80/ 63 S 74/ 58 C Reno 94/ 64 0 97/ 67 S 97/ 68 PC Geneva 79/ 61 0.07 82/ 60 S 83/ 59 PC Today’s forecast
Islip 83/ 71 0 80/ 67 S 75/ 66 C Richmond 84/ 71 0.88 79/ 68 T 76/ 67 T Helsinki 68/ 47 0 77/ 56 PC 77/ 48 S
Newark 85/ 71 0 83/ 67 S 76/ 67 C Rochester 83/ 63 0 83/ 64 C 79/ 62 C Istanbul 84/ 70 0 85/ 72 S 84/ 72 S
Trenton 83/ 70 0.08 83/ 66 PC 75/ 64 C Sacramento 107/ 72 0 107/ 72 S 106/ 74 PC Kiev 70/ 50 0 72/ 50 PC 77/ 55 PC Aug. 18 Aug. 25 Sep. 2 Sep. 10
White Plains 84/ 67 0 81/ 64 S 74/ 62 C Salt Lake City 95/ 67 0 97/ 69 S 100/ 72 S Lisbon 79/ 62 0 77/ 62 S 79/ 66 S 10:41 p.m. 1:22 a.m.
United States Yesterday Today Tomorrow San Antonio 104/ 77 0 104/ 78 S 105/ 77 PC London 70/ 64 0.10 75/ 62 T 77/ 61 T Kennebunkport
San Diego 82/ 70 0 81/ 71 S 79/ 71 PC Madrid 91/ 61 0 88/ 56 S 85/ 58 S Sun RISE 6:07 a.m. Moon R 2:05 a.m. 73/61 Partly sunny, cool
Albany 84/ 63 0 80/ 59 S 76/ 58 PC Moscow 59/ 47 0 65/ 48 C 71/ 59 PC
San Francisco 89/ 64 0 85/ 62 S 78/ 61 PC SET 7:54 p.m. S 5:39 p.m.
Albuquerque 96/ 69 0 95/ 67 S 93/ 66 C Nice 82/ 73 0 84/ 72 PC 84/ 72 PC
San Jose 97/ 71 0 94/ 68 S 90/ 69 PC NEXT R 6:07 a.m. R 3:00 a.m. Cape Cod
Anchorage 69/ 56 0 77/ 58 S 72/ 56 S Oslo 75/ 56 0 76/ 57 PC 76/ 54 PC 60s
San Juan 90/ 78 0.08 90/ 79 PC 92/ 80 T 77/66 Windy and cool
Atlanta 85/ 73 0.20 85/ 69 T 90/ 71 PC Paris 79/ 66 0.15 84/ 63 PC 80/ 61 T Jupiter S 3:21 a.m. Mars S 11:15 a.m.
Seattle 81/ 59 0 86/ 61 S 95/ 62 S
Atlantic City 80/ 72 0.22 79/ 69 PC 75/ 70 C Prague 82/ 63 0.40 76/ 61 T 80/ 59 PC R 6:02 p.m. R 10:31 p.m.
Sioux Falls 84/ 54 0.20 84/ 63 PC 86/ 60 PC L.I. North Shore
Austin 104/ 76 0 105/ 75 S 105/ 75 S Rome 88/ 68 0 88/ 67 S 87/ 68 S
Spokane 82/ 55 0 91/ 60 S 98/ 70 PC Saturn S 4:02 a.m. Venus R 2:33 a.m.
Baltimore 86/ 71 0.45 82/ 66 PC 79/ 65 C St. Petersburg 72/ 49 0 71/ 59 C 73/ 51 S 82/67 Mostly sunny, breezy
St. Louis 88/ 71 0 88/ 67 PC 84/ 65 PC R 6:30 p.m. S 5:07 p.m.
Baton Rouge 91/ 78 0 93/ 73 T 93/ 75 PC Stockholm 79/ 57 0.08 80/ 56 S 77/ 55 S
St. Thomas 92/ 81 0.02 89/ 80 PC 89/ 81 T
Birmingham 85/ 72 0.49 87/ 70 T 90/ 70 PC Vienna 82/ 66 0.20 80/ 64 T 78/ 64 PC L.I. South Shore
Syracuse 87/ 65 0 86/ 65 S 83/ 65 PC Boating
Boise 89/ 59 0 97/ 68 S 101/ 72 PC Tampa 91/ 78 0 90/ 80 T 90/ 78 T Warsaw 84/ 58 0 84/ 57 S 84/ 61 S 81/68 Mostly sunny
Boston 80/ 66 0 72/ 65 W 72/ 66 PC Toledo 86/ 68 0 88/ 63 PC 82/ 58 T
North America Yesterday Today Tomorrow From Montauk Point to Sandy Hook, N.J., out to 20 N.J. Shore
Buffalo 88/ 65 0 86/ 68 C 83/ 65 C Tucson 109/ 82 Tr 106/ 79 C 106/ 81 T 70s
Burlington 84/ 61 0 83/ 60 S 83/ 65 PC nautical miles, including Long Island Sound and New York 79/69 Breezy with some sunshine
Tulsa 94/ 72 0.15 93/ 67 S 88/ 62 S Acapulco 86/ 79 0.10 89/ 78 T 88/ 78 R
Casper 85/ 50 0 91/ 52 S 91/ 56 S Harbor. Eastern Shore
Virginia Beach 84/ 76 0.22 83/ 76 T 84/ 70 T Bermuda 88/ 80 0 88/ 81 T 88/ 81 T
Charlotte 87/ 72 0 83/ 68 T 86/ 67 T Edmonton 66/ 41 0 71/ 48 PC 81/ 51 S Small craft advisory on the ocean. Wind will be from the 80/70 A spotty thunderstorm
Washington 84/ 72 0.28 80/ 67 C 75/ 65 T
Chattanooga 87/ 74 0.36 88/ 69 T 91/ 71 T Wichita 93/ 72 0 88/ 65 S 87/ 65 S Guadalajara 82/ 60 0 84/ 59 T 82/ 59 T northeast at 15-25 knots. Waves will be 1-2 feet on New
Chicago 88/ 68 0 88/ 66 PC 86/ 68 S Havana 91/ 74 0.05 92/ 75 T 92/ 74 PC York Harbor and Long Island Sound and 4-6 feet on the 80s
Wilmington, Del. 84/ 69 0.24 83/ 66 PC 77/ 66 C
Cincinnati 83/ 69 0.05 84/ 66 T 83/ 62 PC Kingston 90/ 79 0 91/ 78 PC 90/ 79 T ocean. Visibility mostly unrestricted. Ocean City Md.
Cleveland 87/ 67 0 83/ 62 PC 80/ 60 R Africa Yesterday Today Tomorrow Martinique 90/ 78 0.02 90/ 79 T 90/ 79 T 78/73 A spotty thunderstorm
Colorado Springs 94/ 59 0 84/ 61 T 86/ 59 PC Algiers 91/ 71 0 91/ 73 PC 90/ 69 C Mexico City 74/ 55 0.28 73/ 56 T 72/ 54 T High Tides
Columbus 85/ 69 0.06 82/ 61 T 82/ 60 PC Cairo 97/ 71 0 97/ 76 S 95/ 75 S Monterrey 96/ 70 0 96/ 70 S 95/ 70 PC Virginia Beach Color bands
Concord, N.H. 86/ 60 0 78/ 57 PC 77/ 55 PC Cape Town 63/ 45 0.02 56/ 43 R 56/ 43 Sh Montreal 80/ 64 Tr 81/ 64 S 81/ 65 S Atlantic City .................... 5:02 a.m. .............. 5:25 p.m. indicate water
83/76 A shower or thunderstorm
Dallas-Ft. Worth 105/ 81 0 103/ 81 PC 99/ 74 PC Dakar 86/ 77 0.45 87/ 81 PC 89/ 81 PC Nassau 90/ 77 0 90/ 80 PC 88/ 79 S Barnegat Inlet ................. 5:17 a.m. .............. 5:31 p.m. temperature.
Denver 96/ 60 0 93/ 60 S 91/ 61 PC Johannesburg 67/ 38 0 71/ 44 S 68/ 38 S Panama City 84/ 75 0.19 84/ 75 R 86/ 75 T The Battery ..................... 5:58 a.m. .............. 6:05 p.m.
Des Moines 88/ 62 0 82/ 60 PC 85/ 64 S Nairobi 74/ 56 0 78/ 53 C 76/ 56 C Quebec City 76/ 55 0 75/ 56 S 77/ 57 S Beach Haven .................. 6:40 a.m. .............. 6:54 p.m.
Detroit 87/ 69 0.10 86/ 65 PC 81/ 61 T Tunis 108/ 79 0.02 102/ 79 PC 105/ 79 PC Santo Domingo 90/ 76 0.06 90/ 75 PC 88/ 74 T Bridgeport ...................... 9:01 a.m. .............. 9:13 p.m.
El Paso 105/ 80 0 104/ 78 PC 98/ 75 PC Toronto 83/ 66 0 81/ 67 C 81/ 62 C City Island ....................... 9:20 a.m. .............. 9:03 p.m.
A brisk wind from the northeast will result
Fargo 73/ 52 0.05 79/ 54 PC 77/ 52 S Asia/Pacific Yesterday Today Tomorrow Vancouver 66/ 54 0 76/ 59 S 79/ 62 S
Hartford 90/ 64 0 81/ 62 S 78/ 59 PC Baghdad 109/ 82 0 110/ 80 PC 111/ 79 PC Fire Island Lt. .................. 6:08 a.m. .............. 6:22 p.m. in a cooler-than-average day at many of
Winnipeg 67/ 60 0.29 76/ 51 PC 75/ 48 PC
Honolulu 88/ 77 0 89/ 77 Sh 89/ 75 PC Bangkok 90/ 75 0.46 89/ 76 T 89/ 77 C Montauk Point ................ 6:52 a.m. .............. 7:10 p.m. the beaches, especially in the north. It will
Houston 100/ 79 0 101/ 80 S 100/ 76 PC Beijing 96/ 73 0 86/ 71 C 84/ 73 C South America Yesterday Today Tomorrow Northport ....................... 9:12 a.m. .............. 9:25 p.m.
Indianapolis 85/ 67 0 87/ 68 T 83/ 62 PC Damascus 100/ 68 0 99/ 65 PC 99/ 64 PC Buenos Aires 63/ 48 0 60/ 40 S 62/ 45 S Port Washington ............. 9:29 a.m. .............. 9:23 p.m. also cause rough surf and dangerous rip
Jackson 87/ 73 0.36 92/ 71 T 93/ 73 PC Hong Kong 89/ 80 0.11 89/ 78 T 88/ 81 Sh Caracas 88/ 75 0.10 87/ 74 T 88/ 75 T Sandy Hook .................... 5:22 a.m. .............. 5:36 p.m. currents in some areas. The odds for
Jacksonville 92/ 73 0.07 91/ 74 T 90/ 73 T Jakarta 90/ 72 0 92/ 77 T 93/ 76 T Lima 64/ 59 0 64/ 59 PC 64/ 58 PC Shinnecock Inlet ............. 5:09 a.m. .............. 5:34 p.m.
Kansas City 87/ 67 0 82/ 59 S 83/ 63 S Jerusalem 85/ 68 0 85/ 66 S 87/ 66 S Quito 65/ 51 0.05 69/ 48 C 71/ 49 PC Stamford ........................ 8:55 a.m. .............. 9:11 p.m.
showers and thunderstorms will be high-
Key West 91/ 84 0.05 92/ 83 T 90/ 83 PC Karachi 93/ 84 0 93/ 82 C 92/ 84 C Recife 82/ 73 0 84/ 73 S 84/ 73 C Tarrytown ....................... 7:47 a.m. .............. 7:54 p.m. est at the southern beaches, but there
Las Vegas 111/ 88 0 112/ 89 S 113/ 90 PC Manila 88/ 77 0 88/ 78 T 89/ 78 T Rio de Janeiro 88/ 73 0 85/ 74 S 80/ 71 PC
Lexington 82/ 67 0.06 84/ 64 T 84/ 60 T Mumbai 84/ 79 1.76 84/ 78 Sh 84/ 79 T Santiago 57/ 36 0 60/ 32 S 64/ 32 S
Willets Point .................... 9:24 a.m. .............. 9:03 p.m. can be showers farther north.

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B8 SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 SCORES ANALYSIS COMMENTARY
N

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL BAYERN MUNICH 8, BARCELONA 2

Mighty Barcelona
Hits Rock Bottom,
Then Falls Deeper
Lionel Messi turned his back. He had
given the ball away, but he made no effort
The epic collapse to atone for his error, no attempt to regain
of a onetime control. He stopped, waited a beat, and
then looked to the other end of the field. It
super-club calls was as if he knew what was
RORY going to happen, and he did
the team’s future not care — or could not bear
SMITH — to watch.
into question. Once it had happened,
ON
SOCCER Quique Sétien turned away,
too, with a shake of the head
and a shrug of the shoulders, looking to
his coaching staff for an explanation or a
bit of solace or confirmation that this was
not real — because it could not be real —
and it was all some horrible hallucination.
On the field, his players stared, glassy-
eyed. In the stands, his socially distanced
substitutes kicked the seats in front of
them in pain and rage and humiliation.
That was at seven. Bayern Munich had
scored seven goals against mighty Bar-
celona, the Barcelona of Messi and Bus-
quets and Piqué and Suárez, in a Champi-
ons League quarterfinal, with the whole
world watching. It was unthinkable, un-
fathomable, unbearable. It was as low as
they could fall.
And then Bayern Munich scored an
eighth.
Rome was bad, in 2018. Barcelona had
won the first leg of that quarterfinal easily,
by 4-1 at Camp Nou. Few gave Roma much
of a chance in the return: a chance to
restore a bit of pride, maybe. But Bar-
celona collapsed, losing by 3-0. Messi and
his teammates brooded on it for months.
At the start of the next season, he gave a
speech outlining his determination to put
it right.
Anfield was worse, in 2019. Messi had
been as good as his word. Barcelona had
cruised to the semifinals this time, and
had dismantled Liverpool on Catalan soil.
Arturo Vidal, the grizzled Chilean mid-
fielder, had promised to make a particu-
larly personal donation to science if Bar-
celona did not make the final. Trent Alex-
ander-Arnold took a corner quickly, and
Barcelona buckled and broke.
But this? This was something else en-
tirely. “The bottom,” was how Gerard
Piqué, almost teary, put it. This was not a
TIAGO PETINGA/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
momentary lapse in concentration, a few
minutes of madness. This was not hubris Bayern Munich’s players had
or overconfidence or some character flaw,
unearthed in the white heat of the Stadio
many reasons to celebrate
Olimpico or Anfield. during Friday’s rout of
This was a brutal, ruthless, surgical Barcelona. Left, Philippe
exposure of all that is wrong with Bar- Coutinho scored Bayern’s
celona. There is no need to reel through eighth and final goal.
that long list — the dreadful recruitment,
the total absence of planning, the board-
room infighting, the negligent squander- team that can compete with the finest
ing of a legacy — but, in the space of 90 clubs in Europe any more. It should have
minutes on Friday, Bayern Munich laid it realized that at Anfield, really, but it can-
all bare. not ignore it now. It is a team that needs to
This was a box score to take the breath be broken up.
away, a result to end an era. That it was a That is easier said than done, of course:
player who has come to symbolize the Barcelona has the highest payroll in soc-
wastefulness of the club, Philippe cer hanging around its neck — its players
Coutinho — the most expensive player in earn more, on average, than any other
Barcelona’s history, a player still owned by team in any sport in the world — and the
Barcelona — who delivered the coup de sorts of teams that might buy its expen-
grâce has the tempting narrative feel of a sive, aging stars are few and far between.
parable, but the ultimate condemnation And besides, nobody would trust the
needs no explanation, no parenthesis. It current executive management of Bar-
was right there in the top left-hand corner celona to build again, to restore the team
of your screen. It was right there on the POOL PHOTO BY MANU FERNANDEZ to its increasingly distant glory.
scoreboard. Eight. Barcelona conceded It is the leadership of Josep Maria Bar-
eight. That — and this is no exaggeration change of the order that Barcelona needs. their runners or to leave Bayern’s passing tomeu, the president, that frittered away
— can only be the end. No, it is deeper than that, more far- lanes open or to fail to drop back into the prince’s ransom Paris St.-Germain
It will, certainly, be the end for Sétien. It reaching than that, more urgent than that. defense. paid for Neymar on Coutinho and Ous-
was “too soon to say” if he will remain in It was not just the score — again: eight, Barcelona’s players remain, to a man, mane Dembélé. They are the ones who
place, he said after the game. What else Bayern Munich scored eight — that stood lavishly talented. Messi remains the finest have spent three quarters of a billion
could he say? He is a fundamentally de- out on Friday; it was Barcelona’s singular player on the planet. But some have aged euros on transfer fees since 2017 and
cent, idealistic coach who is horribly out of inability to do the things it is supposed to and others have not grown and some more managed to make the team worse, who
his depth, but he is no fool. He knows full do. have been brought into a team that does have churned through sporting directors,
well how this plays out. He might have Sétien did not tell Marc-Andre Ter Ste- not suit their strengths. who have watched on as prospect after
been fired on his way out of the Stadium of gen, the most technical goalkeeper in This is not a team that can play as it prospect has left the club’s academy be-
Light in Lisbon on Friday night. He might soccer, to forget how to pass the ball. He wants to, as it is meant to. It is a team that cause the path to the first team was
be fired at the airport on Saturday morn- did not come up with a scheme that in- has come to the end of its line, as even blocked.
ing. He might be fired on the plane, or at volved his defenders and midfielders Piqué alluded to afterward, when he ad- Ultimately, that is where the blame
the baggage carousel. But he will be fired. repeatedly playing themselves into trou- mitted that even he will have to leave, if should lie: with those who have overseen
Sétien will pay, one way or the other, ble. He did not tell his players not to track that is what is best for the club. It is not a a decade in which the team that thrilled
because at Barcelona — as at all of the Europe under Pep Guardiola has withered
other misfiring super-clubs, the teams away to a husk, who have wasted the final
who now consider themselves too big to years of Messi’s peak, who brought Bar-
fail, who have forgotten that their size and celona those nights in Rome, Liverpool
their success is a direct corollary of the and now Lisbon, with those who have
excellence they once embodied, not some- brought Barcelona low, who have brought
thing bestowed on them in perpetuity by Barcelona here.
the divine — the coach always pays. By the time the eighth went in, Bar-
That is what happened to Ernesto celona’s players were barely moving.
Valverde, who made the fatal mistake of Sétien, too, was motionless. Under the
only winning two La Liga titles in two glare of the floodlights, they looked
seasons and setting Barcelona on the path haunted, shellshocked. The humiliation
to a third. It is what would have happened, was a deeply public one, one that will
sooner or later, to Luis Enrique if he had follow them all for some time. Those that
not jumped, if not quite before he was truly bear responsibility were spared that
pushed then because he knew the push ordeal.
always comes eventually. It is what hap- But there are some things that cannot
pened to Tata Martino. be avoided. Eight. In a Champions League
But that will not address the problem. quarterfinal, against the mighty Bar-
Appointing Xavi Hernández — currently celona, with the world watching on, Bay-
cutting his managerial teeth, in between ern Munich scored eight. For Sétien, cer-
promoting the wonderful, liberal existence tainly, for some of the players, most likely,
on offer to everyone (please note: may not and for this incarnation of Barcelona, this
actually apply to everyone) in Qatar — or vision of it on the field and this regime off
Mauricio Pochettino or whoever else the it, definitely, there is no return. This is the
club’s redolent glamour can attract is not end.
POOL PHOTO BY MANU FERNANDEZ

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has had much better nights. Like many of
his teammates, he could not bear to watch by the end of the game.
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N B9

O LY M P I C S BASEBALL

Another Chance
For Yankees’ Frazier
By JAMES WAGNER stint in the minor leagues. There
Two days after making his first- were also some questions about
ever opening-day roster at age 25, Frazier’s professionalism.
Clint Frazier was demoted. The Entering 2020, he said, he had a
Yankees removed him from their renewed focus.
active roster and sent him to their “I’ve obviously been faced with
alternate site in Pennsylvania, a a lot of situations, whether it was
new feature for the 2020 season warranted or unwarranted, but I
for reserve players to stay fresh. just wanted to show up to spring
General Manager Brian Cash- training this year and really only
man and Manager Aaron Boone give people one thing to talk about
delivered the news after a July 25 — and that’s my performance,”
game in Washington in a 15- said Frazier, who hit .267 with 12
minute conversation that Boone home runs in 69 games last sea-
called “very honest, direct and son.
mature.” Frazier, whose brash na- Frazier did just that. As the sea-
ture has caused a few headaches son was approaching in March, he
in the past, said they had hashed it was expected to play a prominent
out “like grown-ups.” role in the Yankees’ offense be-
Still, the young outfielder had cause Aaron Hicks, Judge and
some questions. In particular, he Stanton were recovering from
wanted to know this from his other injuries.
bosses: “Where is my place on But when the coronavirus pan-
this team?” demic delayed the start of the ma-
“It’s a really good team, and I jor league season until late July,
feel like I’m ready,” Frazier said Judge, Hicks and Stanton had ex-
this week. “I feel like there’s a lot tra time to heal. Frazier still made
of people that feel that way, too, the opening-day roster because
but there’s a lot of guys in front of M.L.B. had expanded them for
me. It’s been frustrating. That’s this 60-game season, but even he
the one way to sum it up.” understood that it might not last.
CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
But now Frazier has another He has repeatedly said he wants
Rudy Garcia-Tolson, who hopes to make the U.S. Paralympic team, training in the actor David Duchovny’s pool in Malibu, Calif. chance. It might last only three or
four weeks, roughly the expected
recovery time for the slugger Gi-
He Needed to Train. The Pool Was Out There. ancarlo Stanton’s hamstring
strain. And Aaron Judge, the Yan-
kees’ star outfielder, landed on the
A player thinks he
can do more than
sages of my life. It was from a But I have to understand and 10-day injured list with what
By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
It was the weekend after the woman who said she worked
After being off for basically three
and a half years, it’s not easy. All accept the process of rebuilding. Boone called a mild right calf fill in after injuries.
Fourth of July, and Rudy Garcia- with the actor David Duchovny, my workouts are between 4,500 I have to be hitting the Para- strain after Judge received a mag-
Tolson was still searching for a telling me to get in touch with and 6,000 meters, but the sur- lympic standards by January and netic resonance imaging exami-
place to swim in Southern Cali- her about finding a pool to train prising thing to me is I am all be ready for the trials in less nation on Thursday.“We’ve lost
to earn his spot in the majors out-
fornia. With all the public pools in. She gave me his number and alone, and mentally I am able to than a year. I can’t afford to get two M.V.P.-caliber players, so ob-
right, not simply when his team-
near his home closed, his at- told me to reach out. When I did, stay in it. injured. I don’t have the time. viously that is a blow,” Boone said
mates get hurt.
tempt to come out of a three-year he told me he had a 25-meter, Usually when you are training, before Friday’s game against the
one-lane pool in his backyard. I My original plan was to be in Unfortunately for Frazier, the
retirement at age 31 and make you can pace off your team- Boston Red Sox.
was welcome to use it whenever Colorado training by now. But Yankees’ outfield depth chart
the United States Paralympic mates; you got a coach yelling at So for now, there is some play-
I wanted. I just needed to give since I’ve got access to this pool ahead of him is crowded: Gardner,
team for a fifth time was stuck in you; the clocks are right there in ing time available in the Yankees’
him a little notice. and we have no idea what is Hicks, Judge, Stanton and Mike
first gear. front of you. Being alone, it’s lineup for a tantalizing hitter like
The funny thing is I actually going to happen with the virus Tauchman are ahead of him — and
He’d started swimming and very easy to zone out and forget Frazier.
met David at the Malibu rates, I am going to push that all are more reliable defenders,
surfing in the ocean — plenty fun about the effort, and I’m not He said on Wednesday that he
Triathlon when I was a kid. I back a month. more established hitters or both.
and a tough workout but hardly doing that. felt like he was “the best player
was there with the Challenged I’m living in my childhood “I’m still trying to find my role,”
the best way to prepare to face bedroom in Bloomington, Calif., right now that I’ve ever been,” and
Athletes Foundation. He didn’t How do I know that? There is a Frazier said this week. “I’m a hu-
elite competition in the 200- but I have no urge to leave right he showed it in his first game of
remember that when I told him, little digital clock next to the side man, and I look at a couple weeks
meter individual medley and the now. I get a stipend from being the season, smashing three hits,
but then I showed him a picture of the pool. Everything I do is from now, whenever Stanton does
100-meter breast stroke. an ambassador with the Chal- including a home run in his first
of us, and then he totally did. based on the clock. I can see I come back, where that puts me. I
Then Garcia-Tolson’s phone lit lenged Athletes Foundation. If I at-bat of 2020.
How crazy is it that I met this am getting better at hitting my at least have time between now
up, notifying him of an Insta- intervals. I will try to do 10 sets can make the national team “He can be an impact player in
guy like 20 years ago and now I this league right now,” Boone has and then to possibly establish a
gram message. David Duchovny, of 100 meters, starting another again, I will be eligible for a little role. I would hope I make the most
am training in his pool? said repeatedly about Frazier.
best known for playing Special one every 90 seconds. I can money, which helps.
If the Yankees feel that way of it, and I at least get a couple
Agent Fox Mulder on TV’s “The So far I’ve gone about 12 times. I already hit 1:15 or 1:20 for the I might be able to pick up
about Frazier, why has he seen chances to go out there and do my
X-Files,” was reaching out. text him, tell him when I am first three or four. Then I start to some speaking engagements, but
only sporadic playing time in the best, because that’s really all I’m
Duchovny, a fellow swimmer and going to be there. I park in his fall off. I am late for this Olympic cycle,
and most of the sponsors are majors in the last three seasons? asking for now.”
triathlete, had read the article in driveway, next to the garage. I I also do longer sets. I’ve done
committed elsewhere. As it has been with Frazier for While playing in simulated
The New York Times detailing go right to the pool. 10 intervals of 400 meters, start-
Garcia-Tolson’s efforts to find a years now, the answer is compli- games at the Yankees’ alternate
The first few times we talked ing each one every six and a half
place to train. The actor had an
It’s going to be a tough year cated. site, Frazier said, he wondered a
some. Now it’s less and less. I minutes. financially. I know that. I’m not
idea. The Frazier dilemma for the few times if he would get a chance
uncover the pool, get my equip- I’ve got a routine. On the odd very good with money and fi-
ment out, and within five min- Yankees is this: He is more flawed to do just that. It was understand-
This interview has been con- number, I come in at 5:40 or nances. I haven’t saved my able: Stanton, Judge and Tauch-
utes I jump in. I do my 90- 5:50. On the even numbers, I than many of the players ahead of
densed and lightly edited for whole life, and once I go to Col- man were off to strong starts, the
minute, or maybe a two-hour, attach a pull buoy, which lifts my him in the pecking order, but his
clarity. orado, I’ll have to be paying for Yankees were in first place with-
workout, and I am done. It’s hips, or my hand-paddles, which talent is too enticing to trade away
my own place, even if eventually out him, and Frazier’s name had
I was still trying to find a pool pretty nice. force me to pull more water, or I am swimming at the Olympic just yet. The latter is particularly
true given the Yankees’ history of surfaced repeatedly in trade ru-
when I got one of the great mes- my snorkel, so I don’t have to Training Center.
The first few days I was in awe injuries and the cloudy future of mors last summer and winter.
break to breathe. I also use my
that I was in Malibu, at an out- For now, I am going to keep the 36-year-old outfielder Brett Now, Frazier said, he is thrilled
fin sometimes, so I can kick
door private pool. After I got doing what I am doing. I’ve got Gardner, who is not guaranteed to to be back, and he sounded calmer,
using my abs, and use the para-
Timeout over that, I was able to get into so much more experience. It’s return next season. (The Yankees insisting that he did not want to be
chute, which slows me down and
my zone. going to come. It’s a process. In hold a $10 million option for him a distraction as in the past. He
As with the rest of the world, makes me focus on my arms.
It’s my fourth week now. I feel two weeks, I will bump the train- for 2021.) said he was excited to show off the
athletes’ careers have been up- tired and sore, but it’s the good For these first few months, the ing up to five or six times a week. work he had put in to become a
Acquired in the Andrew Miller
ended by the coronavirus pan- type of tired and sore that I focus is to stay consistent and I’ve got so much more per- better hitter and fielder. Boone
trade with the Cleveland Indians
demic. They are giving The New really missed and enjoy. I’m put in yardage. I am going about spective now. I’m really doing in 2016, Frazier was a highly antic- agreed, adding that he was happy
York Times an intimate look at hitting my intervals and going 20,000 meters a week, which is this for myself. I haven’t had any with Frazier’s physical state and
ipated prospect but was inconsis-
their journeys in periodic install- fast, and feeling good again. about half of what I would be contact with a coach. That’s fine. frame of mind.
tent during his first taste of the
ments through the rest of the doing if I hadn’t taken most of There is nothing to talk about majors in 2017. A concussion “I don’t want to be trite, but I’m
year. the last three years off. right now. wiped out nearly all of his 2018 really proud of how he’s handled
season. And while in 2019 Fra- things and the pro that he’s been,”
zier’s bat helped the Yankees Boone said. “He’s put himself in a
withstand a slew of injuries, in- great position to earn this oppor-
TENNIS HOCKEY cluding those to Judge and Stan- tunity again here and I’m looking
ton, his fielding misadventures forward to seeing him go out and
led to a two-and-a-half-month contribute.”

Williams Falls Coach Ailing, Canadiens Stage a Rout

To a Player By CURTIS RUSH period.
Flyers Coach Alain Vigneault,
sion, he said he had spoken to Ju-
lien Thursday night, mostly about
TORONTO — Kirk Muller, be-
Ranked 116th hind the Montreal Canadiens
bench as interim head coach on
who is a close friend of Julien’s,
said he was planning to contact
hockey. He said Julien had been
“fired up” about the game.
Friday, was too emotional to check Julien. Although Muller has never
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Se- How Montreal would respond been a head coach in Montreal, he
rena Williams lost to an opponent his phone
between CANADIENS 5 to the scary turn of events was knows the team well. He was a
ranked outside the top 100 for the anyone’s guess. Hopes in Montre- leader there as a player on the
first time in eight years on Friday, periods, al- FLYERS 0
though he al had run high after the Canadi- 1993 Stanley Cup-winning team,
falling to Shelby Rogers, 1-6, 6-4, Series is tied, 1-1 ens shocked the Pittsburgh Pen- Montreal’s last. This is his second
7-6 (5), in the Top Seed Open quar- had been
expecting a text or two. guins in the play-in round. By con- stint as an assistant coach in
terfinals. trast, the team locked in on lev- Montreal after serving as head
He knew that the man he had re-
Rogers took six of the final eight eling the series once word came coach from 2011 to 2014 for the
placed, Coach Claude Julian, was
points after trailing by 3-1 in the that Julien’s surgery had been Carolina Hurricanes, with whom
watching from his home in Mont-
tiebreaker. She is No. 116 and successful. he posted a .500 record.
real, where he was recovering
picked up only her third career “We have a focused group,” “My job is to get this team to
from the emergency heart
victory over a top-10 opponent. Muller said. “I think hearing the win,” Muller said. “We’ve got to
surgery he had undergone on
Rogers also reached her first Thursday afternoon in Toronto. good news about Claude’s health recognize which guys are going
WTA semifinal since 2016. It is But after the Canadiens put to- was a nice relief for everybody.” and which guys aren’t.”
necessary to go even further back gether their most inspired game Muller did not display any re- In the club’s public statement
to find this sort of tournament exit of the postseason, routing the luctance at his Friday morning about Julien’s status, General
for Williams. She had not bowed Philadelphia Flyers, 5-0, Muller fi- briefing as he took the reins. Smil- Manager Marc Bergevin ad-
out against someone so low in the nally checked his phone. He found ing throughout the 15-minute ses- dressed the fact that Muller does
rankings since No. 111 Virginie that Julien had been one of the not speak French, while Julien is
Razzano stunned her at the 2012 first to send in his congratula- fluent in both English and French.
French Open. tions. An unwritten rule with the Cana- SARAH STIER/GETTY IMAGES
On Friday, starting after a rain “To Claude — I’m sure he’s lis- diens is that a head coach must
delay of more than two hours, Clint Frazier at bat this week against the Braves. The Yankees
tening — this one was for you,” speak French so he can communi-
Williams seemed to be on the way cate with the French news media brought him in after Giancarlo Stanton strained a hamstring.
Muller said after the game.
to a much simpler route to victory. On Wednesday night, after the and the population of Quebec,
She took the opening set and Canadiens had lost, 2-1, to the Phil- where French is the mother
never faced so much as a single adelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their tongue of almost 80 percent.
break point until serving while first-round series in the N.H.L. But while Muller took questions
trailing by 5-4 in the second. playoffs, Julien began experienc- only in English in his morning
But that was when things ing chest pains. briefing on Friday, he made his
shifted. Rogers earned three Julien, 60, was taken by ambu- opening statement in French.
break points — each a set point — lance to a hospital, where doctors Translated, he said, “Happy
and converted the third when placed a stent in a coronary ar- Claude is in better health, but we
Williams dumped a forehand into tery. He is expected to make a full have to remain focused.”
the net. If the Canadiens advance past Westchester County Connecticut Delaware County
recovery. Houses for Sale 1605 Houses for Sale 1805 Sales 2341
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Williams brought about her own the shutout in the Friday after- rolling, so we get Claude back 914-774-4653 DELHI - 16.41 acres, $139,000. Top of
undoing with miss after miss, in- noon start. The Flyers never re- Canadiens Coach Claude Ju- here,” Muller said. “We got a Scotch Mountain, 5 mins from Delhi,
very private road, best views around,
cluding a long backhand return covered after Montreal’s first goal lien had heart surgery after group of guys that want to do well near by Bluestone Clubhouse - which is
on an 18 hole golf course. 607-746-7377
that ended it. 1 minute 2 seconds into the first Wednesday’s loss to the Flyers. for Claude.” www.Kulaskirealty.com
B10 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

PRO BASKETBALL S C O R E B OA R D

The Bubble Bursts for Popovich and the Spurs BASEBALL

AMERICAN LEAGUE
East W L Pct GB
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — season for Pelicans management
Yankees 12 6 .667 —
Criticizing the leadership of has arrived. There is widespread
President Trump is a longstand- belief in N.B.A. coaching circles Baltimore 11 7 .611 1
ing practice for Gregg Popovich, that the team’s executive vice Tampa Bay 12 8 .600 1
the coach of the president of basketball opera- Toronto 6 9 .400 4{
MARC San Antonio Spurs. tions, David Griffin, has already Boston 6 13 .316 6{
You almost expect
STEIN it by now when he
decided he wants to replace
Coach Alvin Gentry — provided
Central W L Pct GB
Minnesota 12 7 .632 —
ON PRO
gives an interview. that the ownership is prepared to
So it was quite a Detroit 9 7 .563 1{
BASKETBALL swallow the estimated $5 million
curveball when remaining on Gentry’s contract Chicago 10 9 .526 2
Popovich, on his last night in the for next season. Williamson also Cleveland 10 9 .526 2
N.B.A. bubble, decided to imitate seemed to acknowledge that Kansas City 8 11 .421 4
Trump instead. playing at his listed weight of 285 West W L Pct GB
“That’s fake news,” Popovich pounds might have been a factor Oakland 13 6 .684 —
said, insisting with faux indigna- in the myriad injuries that lim- Texas 8 9 .471 4
tion that San Antonio’s run of 22 ited him to 24 of New Orleans’ 72
consecutive playoff appearances Houston 8 10 .444 4{
games as a rookie. He said after
had not just been halted. Los Angeles 7 12 .368 6
Thursday’s morning shootaround
“That’s total fake news,” Seattle 7 13 .350 6{
that his off-season focus would
Popovich continued. “Lots of FRIDAY
be “getting my body where it
guys have been telling me the Baltimore 6, Washington 2
streak hasn’t ended. I talk to needs to be.” Tampa Bay at Toronto
Boston at Yankees
people all the time. They call me. Popovich, of course, has li- Cleveland at Detroit
They tell me: ‘Pop, the streak cense in San Antonio to coach as Washington at Baltimore, 2nd game
Texas at Colorado
didn’t end. It didn’t.’ I don’t know long as he wants, and he left the Seattle at Houston
L.A. Dodgers at L.A. Angels
where you guys are getting this impression that he wanted to Oakland at San Francisco
stuff.” stay on. It’s unclear if his sched- Kansas City at Minnesota ppd.

San Antonio’s remarkable uled gig to coach the United SATURDAY

St. Louis (Hudson 0-1) at Chicago White Sox
streak did perish Thursday — States at the Tokyo Olympics will (Giolito 1-1), 2:10, 1st game
St. Louis (TBD) at Chicago White Sox (TBD),
before the team even took the happen next summer, after this 5:40, 2nd game
floor in an eventual 118-112 loss to
KEVIN C. COX/GETTY IMAGES
summer’s Games were post- Cleveland (Bieber 3-0) at Detroit (Turnbull 2-0),
6:10
the Utah Jazz. Earlier victories Coach Gregg Popovich, with Lonnie Walker IV, has continued to focus on social justice messaging. poned, but carrying on with the Tampa Bay (Yarbrough 0-2) at Toronto
Spurs makes sense on numerous (Anderson 0-0), 6:37
by the Memphis Grizzlies and Boston (Eovaldi 1-1) at Yankees (Paxton 0-1),
the Phoenix Suns had eliminated fronts. 7:07
ahead of heartbroken Phoenix. Once San Antonio’s stay was the last taste of the bubble for Oakland (Luzardo 1-0) at San Francisco
the Spurs from postseason con- Further solidifying the Spurs’ (Gausman 0-1), 7:07
The Spurs, by contrast, arrived officially over, though, it sure Washington, Sacramento and Kansas City (Duffy 0-2) at Minnesota (Berrios
sideration, leaving them one post-Duncan roster would figure
in Florida on July 9 without the sounded as though all the recent New Orleans and its prized rook- 1-2), 7:10
berth shy of a league record for to be a Popovich priority before Seattle (Margevicius 0-0) at Houston (Javier
injured former All-Star LaMar- talk around the team about ie Zion Williamson. 1-1), 7:10
successive playoff appearances. he makes his expected move into
cus Aldridge and convinced that Popovich’s being re-energized by The Wizards, after an 0-7 Washington (Corbin 2-0) at Baltimore
Popovich, though, was feeling a Red Auerbach-style supervi- (Wojciechowski 0-2), 7:35
there was no way they could turn the progress of younger players launch, picked up their first win Texas (Gibson 0-2) at Colorado (Marquez 2-2), 8:10
loose enough after San Antonio’s sory role. Continuing to coach in L.A. Dodgers (Buehler 0-0) at L.A. Angels
their 22 consecutive trips to the such as Derrick White, Lonnie by beating Boston in Thursday’s
season was brought to its first the N.B.A. likewise gives (Heaney 1-1), 9:40
postseason into 23. “No shot,” Walker IV, Dejounte Murray and noon tipoff and, thanks to such
postseason-free close since 1996- Popovich maximum volume on NATIONAL LEAGUE
Popovich said. Keldon Johnson had not been an early start, had landed at
97 that he was able to show a his social justice megaphone.
Popovich thought so little of exaggerated. Dulles Airport by 7:30 p.m. The East W L Pct GB
playful side he only occasionally Some who know him well even
San Antonio’s chances that he “I’m more excited about that Kings were the next to depart,
reveals in his often terse interac- believe he is more keen on trying
Miami 8 4 .667 —
responded to the injury losses of than anything you guys are followed by the Pelicans, who
tions with the news media. to pass his dear friend Don Nel- Atlanta 11 9 .550 1
two more starters (Trey Lyles talking about right now,” qualified as the unquestioned
Of greater consequence, son for the career record in regu- Mets 9 11 .450 3
and Bryn Forbes) by handing a Popovich said of his team’s play- disappointment of the bubble.
Popovich also gave a strong lar-season victories than he Washington 6 10 .375 4
notebook to Patty Mills, his er-development gains. He as- With Williamson watching in a
indication that he intended to would ever let on. Nelson’s lead Philadelphia 5 9 .357 4
keep coaching the Spurs next trusty reserve guard, and mak- mask as a courtside spectator,
ing Mills an assistant coach for New Orleans lost to Orlando in a is down to 58 wins. Central W L Pct GB
season, despite the team’s 32-39 It is safest to say that
finish and his status, at 71, as the five of the team’s eight games 9 p.m. tipoff and then had to Chicago 13 3 .813 —

league’s oldest coach. here. The Spurs wound up start- Optimism despite make an immediate late-night Popovich has coached so well for St. Louis 2 3 .400 5{
ing 5-2 before losing the mean- flight home after the game. so much longer than modern
“Why wouldn’t I?” Popovich
asked. ingless Utah game on Thursday. the end of 22 League rules mandated that the coaches typically last that he
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
8
7
11 .421
10 .412
6{
6{
deserves to go out in a much
On elimination day at the In his frequent interview ses-
sions with reporters over the
straight playoff Pelicans, for safety reasons,
could no longer stay on the more traditional setting — mean- Pittsburgh 4 13 .235 9{
N.B.A. bubble for five teams, it
could thus be argued that no one, past month, Popovich developed appearances. league’s campus once they had ing with actual fans and admir-
ers allowed in the building.
West W L Pct GB

not even the Cinderella Suns, a consistent routine. He would been eliminated. Colorado 12 6 .667 —

could claim the sort of upbeat make near-daily statements to The N.B.A. invited 22 teams to “It’s truly an incredible run,” Los Angeles 13 7 .650 —
exit that San Antonio surpris- push for social justice and high- Walt Disney World to reboot its said Mark Cuban, whose Dallas San Diego 11 9 .550 2
ingly managed. Phoenix went a light voter suppression to “make serted that San Antonio’s 22 coronavirus-interrupted season Mavericks have had a fierce Arizona 8 11 .421 4{
spotless 8-0 in its seeding games, sure that the momentum contin- postseasons in a row, starting with a format critics had insisted regional rivalry with Popovich
San Francisco 8 12 .400 5
best in the bubble, but the Suns ues” for players and coaches with the selection of Tim Duncan was conceived purely to create a and the Spurs almost from the
FRIDAY
also had to suffer through the determined to capitalize on the with the No. 1 overall pick in the pathway for Williamson and the moment Cuban bought his team Baltimore 6, Washington 2, 1st game
agony of Portland’s 134-133 es- high-profile platform of the 1997 draft, didn’t “enter my Pelicans to knock Memphis out in January 2000. Mets at Philadelphia
Atlanta at Miami
cape against the Nets in Thurs- N.B.A. restart to amplify their mind.” of the playoffs. Seven of the Expressing doubt that any Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
Washington at Baltimore, 2nd game
day’s late game. The Trail Blaz- messaging about systemic rac- The Spurs and the Suns, be- Pelicans’ eight games here were future streak-minded franchise Milwaukee at Chicago Cubs
ers’ victory sent them to Satur- ism. He would also say repeat- cause they were in the race with selected for national TV broad- could match San Antonio’s 22 Texas at Colorado
L.A. Dodgers at L.A. Angels
day’s Western Conference playoff edly that the development of San Portland for a play-in spot to the casts; New Orleans went 2-6 and consecutive playoff appearances, San Diego at Arizona
essentially finished 21st. Oakland at San Francisco
play-in round, against Memphis, Antonio’s young players was his end, were scheduled to fly home Cuban said: “Amazing — there’s
by the slimmest of margins — only on-court interest. Friday. Thursday also marked As a result, a difficult off- no other way to describe it.” SATURDAY
St. Louis (Hudson 0-1) at Chicago White
Sox (Giolito 1-1), 2:10, 1st game
Milwaukee (Houser 1-1) at Chicago Cubs
(Mills 2-0), 3:20
St. Louis (TBD) at Chicago White Sox

The Nets Have Impressed, but Now They’re Facing the Raptors
(TBD), 5:40, 2nd game
Mets (Matz 0-3) at Philadelphia (Nola 1-1),
6:05
Atlanta (Fried 3-0) at Miami (TBD), 6:10
Pittsburgh (Brault 0-0) at Cincinnati (Bauer
2-0), 6:10
By SOPAN DEB Oakland (Luzardo 1-0) at San Francisco
(Gausman 0-1), 7:07
Washington (Corbin 2-0) at Baltimore
The Nets had a difficult regular (Wojciechowski 0-2), 7:35
season. Their two best players, San Diego (Quantrill 2-0) at Arizona (TBD), 8:10
Texas (Gibson 0-2) at Colorado (Marquez
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, 2-2), 8:10
missed all or most of the season. L.A. Dodgers (Buehler 0-0) at L.A. Angels
(Heaney 1-1), 9:40
Their highly regarded coach,
Kenny Atkinson, stepped down in
March. BASKETBALL
Caris LeVert missed significant
time because of a thumb injury. N.B.A. SCHEDULE
Other key players, like Spencer All games in Orlando, Fla.
Friday, Aug. 14
Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan, Toronto 117, Denver 109
did not make the trip to Walt Dis- Indiana 109, Miami 92
Oklahoma City at L.A. Clippers
ney World near Orlando, Fla., for Philadelphia at Houston
Saturday, Aug. 15
the N.B.A. restart after they Memphis at Portland, 2:30
tested positive for the coro-
W.N.B.A. SCHEDULE
navirus. Another player, Michael
All games in Bradenton, Fla.
Beasley, was signed as a replace- Friday, Aug. 14
ment only to also test positive be- Connecticut 77, Chicago 74
Seattle at Dallas
fore the restart, so he didn’t play Atlanta at Phoenix
either. Jamal Crawford, the vet- Saturday, Aug. 15
POOL PHOTOS BY ASHLEY LANDIS Washington at Las Vegas, 12 p.m.
eran scorer, was signed for bubble The Nets’ Caris LeVert pursuing the Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard, left. LeVert gives the Nets a solid chance against the Raptors but Los Angeles at Indiana, 2 p.m.
Liberty at Minnesota, 6 p.m.
depth — and his debut lasted all of
six minutes because of a ham-
must stay healthy and consistent. Kyle Lowry, right, had another All-Star season and has the Raptors poised to defend their title.
string injury. HOCKEY
It’s been that kind of season for were sixth in the league in offen- even after losing Leonard, one of the Nets at the same time that ev- minutes a game — all career
sive efficiency. This year, they fell the best defenders in the league in erything needs to go wrong for To- highs. He’s going to need to be a STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF
the Nets, who went 35-37 during
SCHEDULE
the regular season. Even in what to 13th. But the team rode the Leonard. In the bubble, the Rap- ronto. The Nets have very little presence at the basket on both
All games played in Edmonton and Toronto
was supposed to be a bridge year, league’s second-best defense to tors had the N.B.A.’s best defense margin for error. But it’s a weird ends. Friday, Aug. 14
this kind of tumult was unexpect- another two seed. entering their last regular-season year! (The Raptors, of course, are Same for Harris, the sharp- Montreal 5, Philadelphia 0
Colorado 3, Arizona 2
ed. Pascal Siakam, a dynamic for- game. It’s hard to get buckets familiar from last year’s run with shooter who averaged his career Islanders vs. Washington
againston this team, especially this scenario of weird things hap- -best 14.5 points a game and shot Vancouver vs. St. Louis
And yet, even with a skeleton ward in his fourth season, made Dallas vs. Calgary
crew in Florida, the Nets have his first All-Star game and aver- without an elite shotmaker. pening from last year’s run: Leon- 42 percent from 3-point range. Saturday, Aug. 15
Boston vs. Carolina, noon
been one of the most impressive aged career highs in points, re- 3. THEY STAY HEALTHY. The Raptors ard’s last-second shot that Harris is the kind of player who Tampa Bay vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
teams inside the bubble under bounced in against the Philadel- can turn a game single-handedly Colorado vs. Arizona, 3 p.m.
bounds and assists. Kyle Lowry, at don’t have any significant injuries Las Vegas vs. Chicago, 8 p.m.
Jacque Vaughn, their interim 34 years old, put together one of heading into the playoffs, except phia 76ers; the Warriors’ losing with his shooting. The Nets will
coach. And now, as the No. 7 seed, the best seasons of his career and for Patrick McCaw, a reserve for- several key players to injury.) need a couple of those games from
SOCCER
they’re set to play the No. 2- made his sixth All-Star game. ward who left the bubble to re- 2. CARIS LEVERT SHOWS OUT. LeV- him.
seeded Toronto Raptors, the de- Other players, like Fred VanVleet, ceive treatment on his knee. ert is an absolute talent. There is 3. THE RAPTORS ARE NOT PREPARED. M.L.S. SCHEDULE
fending champions, in the first Norman Powell and OG Anunoby most likely an All-Star game in his The Nets have several players, All matches played in Orlando, Fla.
round of the playoffs. 4. THE NETS STRUGGLE DEFEN-
broke out for career years as well. future. He’s crafty at getting to the such as Chris Chiozza and Timo- Sunday, August 16
The Nets went 5-3 in the seed- SIVELY. The Nets have been com- Nashville at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Even Serge Ibaka, now in his 11th rim. He’s difficult to guard in the thé Luwawu-Cabarrot, who have Tuesday, August 18
ing games — a series of eight petitive in the restart, but this iter- Vancouver at Toronto FC, 8 p.m.
season, hadaveraged a career open floor. He has even become a taken on bigger roles in the bub- Thursday, August 20
games to finish the regular sea- ation of the team has not defended
-high in scoring average (15.4). threat from deep, increasing his 3- ble. These are players who would- N.Y.C.F.C. at Red Bulls, 7 p.m.
son. The last loss came Thursday well, ranking 17th out of the 22 Chicago at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
And even with the downturn in ef- point percentage to 36 percent n’t get much time normally, which
night, when the Nets had nothing bubble teams in defense as of Fri-
ficiency, the Raptors were bal- this season from 32 percent his also means scouting reports on
to play for with their seed locked day. GOLF
anced offensively, with six players rookie year. And he has shown them might be incomplete.
in. Still, they nearly pulled out a averaging 10 or more points a Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 24
that he can take over games. WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP
win in an intense battle with thea game. The Nets will win if . . . points against Orlando and 26
desperate Portland Trail Blazers There is a world in which LeV- At Sedgefield Country Club
1. THE MONSTARS STEAL TORON- ert plays like he did against Port- points against Milwaukee during Greensboro, N.C.
team, whoich needed the victory Yardage: 7,131; Par: 70 Purse: $6.4 Million
The Raptors will win if . . . TO’S TALENT. Maybe the entire land on Thursday night through- the seeding games, so it’s possible Second Round
to make the playoffs. LeVert car-
Raptors team could oversleep and out an entire playoff series, which that the Nets could steal some Tom Hoge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62-68—130 -10
ried the Nets to the tune of 37 1. THEY RELY ON THEIR TALENT AD-
Si Woo Kim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65-65—130 -10
forfeit several games. Or the Nets would be dangerous for Toronto. games just by catching the Rap- Talor Gooch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65-65—130 -10
points, and his last-second jumper VANTAGE. Toronto has more fire- Billy Horschel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66-64—130 -10
could put Flubber on the soles of But LeVert’s primary issues in his tors off guard. Harris English. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64-67—131 -9
rimmed out, allowing Portland power than the Nets, both at the Shane Lowry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68-63—131 -9
fans to breathe a sigh of relief. their shoes. I don’t know. You pick. four-year career have been incon- 4. TORONTO CAN’T FIGURE OUT HOW Andrew Landry . . . . . . . . . . . . 66-65—131 -9
top and the bottom of the roster. But the bottom line is that the sistency and injuries. Doc Redman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67-64—131 -9
Vaughn has the Nets playing TO SCORE. It’s a small sample size, Harold Varner III . . . . . . . . . . . . 62-69—131 -9
And it’s not talent with a penchant Nets are — as another New York The Nets have other estab- and the Raptors were resting Roger Sloan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62-70—132 -8
hard and competing. But what will for lethargy, either. Coach Nick C.T. Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68-64—132 -8
that mean against the champs? institution might say — “out- lished players who will need to be players. But in the seeding games, Mark Hubbard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67-65—132 -8
Nurse is adept at getting the team gunned, outmanned.” Even with the best versions of themselves to Toronto had one of the league’s Rob Oppenheim . . . . . . . . . . . 66-66—132 -8
to play hard. The Raptors are Irving playing, the Nets would be make the most of a strong per- worst offenses. Only two teams
Jason Kokrak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69-63—132 -8
Webb Simpson . . . . . . . . . . . . 66-66—132 -8
The Competition fourth in the N.B.A. in net rating huge underdogs in this series. But formance by LeVert: Jarrett Allen were worse: the Los Angeles Lak- Tyler Duncan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68-64—132 -8
Peter Malnati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68-65—133 -7
The Raptors barely missed a (essentially the average of how missing most of their best play- and Joe Harris. Allen had a solid ers and the Washington Wizards. Patrick Reed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65-68—133 -7
beat this year, even though Kawhi much they win games by). ers? It would be one of the biggest season as a rim-running, shot- The Nets, on the other hand, had
Paul Casey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67-66—133 -7
Kevin Kisner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69-64—133 -7
upsets in N.B.A. playoff history if Ryan Brehm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64-69—133 -7
Leonard left in free agency. The 2. THEIR DEFENSE CONTINUES TO blocking dynamo, averaging the N.B.A.’s eighth-best offense Adam Long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68-65—133 -7
only step back this season was on THRIVE. The team played better the Nets won. nearly a double-double (11.1 out of the 22 teams in the bubble Sungjae Im . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69-64—133 -7
Patton Kizzire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66-67—133 -7
the offensive end: Last year, they defense this year than last year, Everything needs to go right for points, 9.6 rebounds) in only 26.5 going into Friday. Tommy Fleetwood . . . . . . . . . . 69-64—133 -7
 THE NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARIES SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N B11

Julian Bream, 87, Maestro of the Guitar Who Revived the Lute, Is Dead
By ALLAN KOZINN was not taught there, and then the
Julian Bream, the English musi- piano. The school admitted him as
cian who pushed the guitar be- a pianist, cellist and composition
yond its Spanish roots and ex- student, and he was advised not to
panded its range by commission- bring his guitar into the building.
ing dozens of works from major But because he was giving late-
composers, and who also played a night performances and playing
crucial role in reviving the lute as for film soundtracks to earn
a modern concert instrument, money, he brought his guitar to
died on Friday at his home in Wilt- the college anyway. When word
shire, England. He was 87. got around that he could be heard
His representatives at James playing Bach on it in one of the
Brown Management announced practice rooms, the school’s direc-
his death in a statement but did tor asked him again to leave the
not give a cause. guitar at home. Mr. Bream left the
Mr. Bream was the most elo- school instead.
quent guitarist of the generation After 3½ years in the army, Mr.
that came of age soon after An- Bream tried to establish his ca-
drés Segovia carved out a place reer in earnest. He continued
for the guitar in the mainstream playing for film soundtracks and
concert world. in the pit bands for radio plays, as
It could be argued, in fact, that
Mr. Bream, even more than Sego-
via, established the guitar’s credi-
bility as a serious solo instrument. Inspiring a generation
He updated the technical stand-
ard of classical guitar playing and of young musicians to
replaced the Romantic, rubato-
heavy phrasing that Segovia pre- set aside the guitar
ferred with a more modern style.
And he undertook a significant
and play the lute.
renovation of the repertory.
While Segovia, a Spaniard, de-
voted himself largely to music well as an accompanist for singers
that naturally emphasized the on BBC programs. He also began
guitar’s Spanish and Latin Ameri- giving radio concerts on the lute.
can roots, Mr. Bream showed that He made his London debut at
the instrument was equally suited Wigmore Hall in 1951 and immedi-
to German, French and English ately toured England. His first
works and to some of the thorny continental concerts followed in
contemporary styles that the Switzerland in 1954, and he made
more conservative Segovia MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES, VIA GETTY IMAGES
his American debut in 1958, at
avoided. Town Hall in New York. There-
While Mr. Bream did not ignore after, he toured annually through
the Spanish and Latin repertory, the 1990s, mostly in Europe and
he created an alternative and just the United States.
as durable one through research, An automobile accident in 1984,
transcription and commissioning. in which he broke his right elbow,
He was the first to revive major required reconstructive surgery
works by Fernando Sor of Spain that limited his bending the arm.
and Mauro Giuliani of Italy, two He had his surgeon set it in the op-
important 19th-century guitarist- timal position for plucking guitar
composers. His transcriptions in- strings, and after relearning his
cluded Bach suites and Scarlatti technique to account for the loss in
sonatas, as well as works by Pur- flexibility, he continued to per-
cell, Cimarosa, Diabelli and Schu- form and record.
bert. His final formal recital was in
But his most enduring legacy is Norwich, England, on May 6,
most likely to be the large col- 2002, but he continued to play pri-
lection of pieces he commissioned, vately, occasionally giving recitals
many of which he also recorded. at churches near his home until
The scores written for him that 2011, when injuries he sustained
are now staples of the guitar liter- after a neighbor’s dog knocked
ature include Benjamin Britten’s EVENING STANDARD/HULTON ARCHIVE, VIA GETTY IMAGES him to the ground made playing
“Nocturnal” (1963); William Wal- impossible.
ton’s Five Bagatelles (1971); and Mr. Bream’s honors included
concertos by Malcolm Arnold the Order of the British Empire in
(1959) and Richard Rodney Ben- 1964, Commander of the British
nett (1970). Hans Werner Henze, Empire in 1985 and the Villa-Lo-
Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael bos Gold Medal (he gave the
Tippett and Toru Takemitsu also world premiere of the Villa-Lobos
wrote works for him. Guitar Concerto) in 1976.
“I do think there is a valid rea- He married Margaret
son that Segovia commissioned Williamson in 1968. After their di-
the composers he did,” Mr. Bream vorce, he married Isabel Sanchez
said in a 1983 interview with The in 1980. Mr. Bream is survived by
New York Times. “He was very his sister, Janice, and his brother
much a pioneer, and what he Anthony, an artist. Their youngest
wanted was a very listenable rep- sibling, Paul, died in 2006.
ertory. But I’m interested in differ- Mr. Bream recorded for West-
RAHAV SEGEV FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
ent aspects of the guitar, and of minster, Decca and EMI Classics
music. And while I think it would Clockwise from top: Julian Bream around 1970; at Alice Tully in the 1990s, but was mainly with
have worried Segovia that certain Hall at Lincoln Center in New York in 1997; receiving a com- RCA Records. Starting in 1959, he
works might not go down too well, memorative disc in 1976 from British Prime Minister Edward recorded nearly 40 discs for the la-
as often happens with modern Heath; and with the pianist and composer Richard Rodney bel, covering a vast array of the
music, that doesn’t worry me.” Bennett, left, and the conductor Andre Previn, center, in 1970. lute and guitar repertory. In 2013,
Mr. Bream also had an anti- to celebrate Mr. Bream’s 80th
ROGER JACKSON/CENTRAL PRESS, VIA HULTON ARCHIVE, VIA GETTY IMAGES
quarian streak that made him an birthday, Sony Classical (which
important figure in the modern re- had acquired RCA Red Seal) is-
vival of the lute. He took up the sued a boxed set with all the RCA
Renaissance lute in 1950 in order Bream Consort, a string, wind and roque guitar — while preparing cial artist, his mother a home- “he had many reservations. His discs, as well as two DVDs offer-
to play works that were written lute ensemble, to perform and his video series “Guitarra!,” maker. His parents divorced when feeling was that there was no ing a documentary film and televi-
for it by Morley, Dowland and record Elizabethan ensemble mu- which traces the guitar’s history. he was 14. chance to earn a livelihood unless sion appearances.
other Elizabethan composers. sic. At recitals, he often played the And when research by younger Julian played the piano and the I played jazz or something similar. Mr. Bream was fussy about
He was not the first to do so, but lute before the intermission and lutenists suggested that Mr. cello as a child but was inspired to And to prove it he did say to me sound, preferring to record late at
his predecessors had sat on the the guitar in the second half of the Bream’s lute technique was inau- take up the guitar after hearing one day that if you take into ac- night in an empty chapel near his
scholarly edge of the early music program. thentic, he stopped playing the in- the virtuoso jazz guitarist Django count the whole population of the home. He said, however, that mod-
world. Mr. Bream, by contrast, Mr. Bream’s success as a lute- strument publicly so that he could Reinhardt. His father, an amateur world, and given that there’s only ern recording techniques could
hoped to make the lute as popular nist inspired a generation of catch up with the latest schol- jazz guitarist, gave him his first one world famous classical guitar- not match the sound he heard on
as the guitar, and he set about young musicians, including Paul arship. By the time he began giv- lessons, and when Julian heard ist so far, the chance of success for the old shellac discs of his child-
searching libraries for little- O’Dette, Stephen Stubbs and Hop- ing lute performances again, he some Segovia recordings in the a second guitarist must be very hood, played on a windup gramo-
known works that might illumi- kinson Smith, to set aside the had not only revised his technique mid-1940s, he decided to study slender. But that remark made me phone with a large horn and thorn
nate the instrument’s expressive modern guitar and concentrate on but had also taken up the larger classical guitar music. all the more doggedly persistent.” needles.
strengths. the lute and other early stringed Baroque lute. “When my father saw that I was The persistence was necessary. “What do I think of digital re-
In 1959, he formed the Julian instruments. In the early 1980s, Julian Alexander Bream was interested in following such a ca- At his audition for admission to cording?’’ he once mused at a
Mr. Bream followed their lead in born in London on July 15, 1933, to reer,” Mr. Bream was quoted as the Royal College of Music in Lon- cocktail party in New York. “Well,
Julia Carmel contributed report- taking up early forms of the guitar Henry and Violet Jessie (Wright) saying in “Life on the Road,” a don, Mr. Bream played the guitar it’s all right. But those old thorn
ing. — the Spanish vihuela and the Ba- Bream. His father was a commer- 1982 biography by Tony Palmer, first, even though the instrument needles, now, that was a sound.”

Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths

Elliott, Fay Olshan, Kenneth member of the Weill Cornell KLEIN—Harvey. generation of physicians. periments at CERN in Gene-
KLEIN—Harvey MD. Weill Cornell Medicine Board Mary and I are so proud to
Medicine Board of Overseers The Women's Health Sympo- va, Switzerland, and at SLAC,
Kaplow, Maurice Sakitt, Mark The family of Harvey Klein, of Overseers and a recipient have counted him as a close
and an Alumni Association sium of Weill Cornell at Stanford University. He
MD mourns his death on Au- of the 2016 Maurice R. Green- friend and confidant. To his
Klein, Harvey Volk-Weiss, Susan Honorary Fellow, Dr. Klein Medicine and NewYork- also served as Assistant Di-
gust 12 after a brief illness. berg Distinguished Service wife Phyllis, children and
was a champion for philan- Presbyterian mourns the loss rector for Scientific Person-
His primary professional Award. He was a board mem- grandchildren, we extend our
thropy. He and his wife, Phyl- of our dear friend, Dr. Harvey nel. Over time his interest
commitment was to the prac- ber of the Music and Medi- deepest sympathies. We will
ELLIOTT—Fay. KLEIN—Harvey. lis (known to all as Patti), Klein. Beloved husband to turned more toward counter-
tice of internal medicine, in cine program at Weill Cornell all miss him tremendously.
A generous supporter of The NewYork-Presbyterian and helped endow the Phyllis and Patti Klein, an esteemed terrorism studies. In lieu of
which he was engaged for 50 Medicine. He was considered Peter & Mary Kalikow
Morgan Library and Museum Weill Cornell Medicine are Harvey Klein, M.D. Scholar- member of our Executive flowers, contributions may be
years, retiring only a month by his colleagues to be a giant
and many other arts and liter- deeply saddened by the ship, which provides support Steering Committee, Dr. made to the New York Civil
ago. Born in 1937 to Emanuel presence, both literally and
ary causes died peacefully at death of our dear friend and for students pursuing careers Klein was a revered physi- Liberties Union, NYCLU.org,
and Rose Klein in the Bronx, metaphorically. He was also OLSHAN—Kenneth.
her home in Bermuda on July colleague Dr. Harvey Klein, a in internal medicine and pri- cian and mentor to genera- or to Planned Parenthood
NY, he grew up as the elder a talented photographer who The Central Park Conservan-
29, 2020, much missed by her beloved physician and lead- mary care. In the 1980s, the tions of trainees, and his com- Hudson Peconic,
brother of David and Arnold. had an eye for engaging and cy mourns the passing of
family, her many friends and ing light at NewYork- Harvey Klein Professorship mitment to patients was le- Plannedparenthood.org. Ser-
After graduating from the beautiful images. He had a Kenneth Olshan, a friend and
not least by Geoffrey, her Presbyterian/Weill Cornell of Biomedical Sciences was gendary. Kindhearted and vices entrusted to the care of
Fieldston School, he became contagious sense of humor Board member from 1992 to
husband for over half a cen- Medical Center for 56 years. created at Weill Cornell Medi- warm, with a wonderful Branch Funeral Home,
an undergraduate at the Uni- and loved to laugh. He also 2009. Ken was a leader in the
tury. Che faro sensa Euridice. Dr. Klein was a highly re- cine, and in 1998, the Harvey sense of humor, he will be Smithtown, NY,
versity of Chicago, which he loved Gilbert and Sullivan lyr- advertising industry and
spected internist and gas- Klein, M.D. Genetic Medicine profoundly missed. We ex- branchfh.com.
KAPLOW—Maurice. considered to be the best edu- ics, classic show tunes, opera served on the Marketing &
troenterologist, the William S. Laboratories were estab- tend our deepest sympathies
The New York City Ballet cation he could possibly have and classical music. He cared Communications and Execu-
Paley Professor of Clinical lished, both funded in his ho- to Patti and the entire Klein
family mourns the passing of gotten. He then attended Har- deeply for his family, his tive committees from which
Medicine, and recipient of the nor by friends and grateful family.
our dear friend and longtime vard Medical School, from many friends, his colleagues he advised the Conservancy
2016 Maurice R. Greenberg patients. Our deepest con- Joan Weill, Co-Chair,
conductor Maurice Kaplow. which he graduated in 1963 and his patients. He and his on publicizing The Gates tem-
Distinguished Service Award, dolences to Patti; his daugh- Women's Health Symposium
Maury's illustrious career as and began his medical intern- family have spent summers porary art installation in Cen-
the medical center's highest ter, Laura, and his son-in-law, Dr. Orli Etingin, Co-Chair,
a violinist, conductor, teach- ship at the New York Hospi- and many holidays in Stock- tral Park, as well as on many
honor that recognizes excep- John Branigan; his son, Da- Women's Health Symposium
er, and composer spanned tal. From 1965-1967, he and his bridge, MA since the 1970's, other projects. We greatly va-
tional and longstanding ser- niel, and his daughter-in-law, Weill Cornell Medicine VOLK-WEISS—Susan “Judy”,
more than 50 years. He first wife Phyllis (Patti) lived in where he had many friends lued his generosity to the
vice. Dr. Klein represented Dr. Jennifer Breznay; and his and NewYork-Presbyterian died on August 11, 2020 after a
led the New York City Ballet Minot, North Dakota while he who enjoyed his love of con- Park and his advocacy of our
the best of medicine, combin- beloved grandchildren. long illness. She is survived
Orchestra as a guest conduc- served as a Captain in the versation and his sense of hu- mission. On behalf of the
ing superior diagnostic skills Jessica Bibliowicz, by her son, Brian, daughter-
tor in 1990 and joined the Strategic Air Command of mor. He leaves his wife, Phyl- Board of Trustees, manage-
with a bedside manner that Chairman, in-law, Sheila, and grandchild-
Company full-time in 1995, the US Air Force, treating lis (Patti), of 56 years, his KLEIN—Harvey. ment, and staff of the Central
showcased his kindness, Weill Cornell Medicine ren, Washington, Grant and
where he served as Principal members of the Air Force, children, Laura (John Brani- Mary and I extend our deep- Park Conservancy, we send
sense of humor and sincere Board of Overseers Truman. She was a pioneer in
Conductor until his retire- veterans and Native Ameri- gan) and Daniel (Dr. Jennifer est condolences to the entire our heartfelt condolences to
interest in his patients' well- Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, the field of microbiology. She
ment in 2010. Kind, compas- cans on a nearby reservation. Breznay), and his four teen- Klein family on the passing of the entire Olshan family.
being. Devoted to the art and Dean, was one of the first women to
sionate, and tirelessly dedi- He returned to the New York aged grandchildren - Julia, Harvey, our friend and physi- Elizabeth W. Smith,
science of patient care, Dr. Weill Cornell Medicine obtain a PHD in the field. She
cated to his craft, Maestro Hospital and in 1968-9 served Josey, Molly and Max, with cian of over 40 years. Harvey President & CEO,
Klein served on numerous cli- Jerry I. Speyer, Chair, loved tennis, the Yankees,
Kaplow will be greatly as Chief Medical Resident. whom he loved to share sto- was renowned for his clinical Central Park Conservancy
nical and administrative Board of Trustees, opera and skiing. There will
missed by the countless mu- He was subsequently a gas- ries. He and his wife estab- and diagnostic skills. He was Thomas L. Kempner, Jr.,
committees at both the hos- NewYork-Presbyterian be a private graveside
sicians and dancers who col- troenterology fellow there. In lished the Phyllis and Harvey indeed a doctor's doctor, a Chairman, Board of Trustees,
pital and the medical college, Dr. Steven J. Corwin, service.
laborated with him during 20 1970, he began his 50-year in- Klein, MD Scholarship Fund man whom physicians sought Central Park Conservancy
where he taught physical President and
years with NYCB. We extend ternal medicine practice at at Weill Cornell Medical Col- for care and counsel. But just
diagnosis to thousands of fu- Chief Executive Officer,
our heartfelt condolences to the Cornell Medical College, lege to support medical stu- as importantly, he was a man
ture physicians. A longtime NewYork-Presbyterian
his beloved wife Judy and where he instructed genera- dents pursuing careers in in- of immense compassion and SAKITT—Mark.
entire family. tions of medical residents in ternal medicine and primary humor. He treated his pa- Age 82, of Nissequogue, NY
physical diagnosis and was
widely regarded as a mentor.
care. In lieu of flowers, please
make gifts to the Phyllis and
tients as though they were
members of his family and
passed on August 11, 2020. Be-
loved husband and best
In Memoriam
He cared deeply about the Harvey Klein MD Scholarship did so with his legendary whit friend of Rita Sakitt. Mark
practice of medicine, with a Fund at Weill Cornell Medi- and charm. NewYork Pres- had a very accomplished
focus on listening to and con- cine. Give online at byterian has achieved its na- career working for Brook-
necting personally with pa- give.weill.cornell.edu or tional stature in no small part haven National Laboratory
tients. He was the William S. email Tom Nichols at due to the reputational excel- for over 50 years. He began INSELBUCH—Elihu.
Paley Professor of Clinical thn2004@med.cornell.edu. lence of men like Harvey. as a high-enegrgy physicist, In loving memory.
Medicine, a member of the Harvey was unselfish with his and became a senior scien- Missed by so many
time in mentoring the next tist; he worked on physics ex- never forgotten.
B12 N THE NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARIES SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

Luchita Hurtado, 99, Artist Who Became a Sensation in Her 90s, Dies
By KAREN ROSENBERG Olmec heads in La Venta, Mexico; ezuelan coastal city about 15 miles
Luchita Hurtado, an artist tribal dances in Taos — as well as north of Caracas. At age 8 she emi-
whose paintings and drawings mid-20th-century schools of ab- grated to New York, where she
emphasized the interconnected- straction. lived with her mother, a seam-
ness of all living things with a vi- “Everything in this world, I stress, her sister and two aunts;
sionary intensity that was almost find, I’m related to,” she once said. her father remained behind in
shamanic, but whose work was Her “I Am” series from the late Venezuela.
recognized by the art world only 1960s shows her surveying her She studied fine art at Washing-
late in her life, died on Thursday own body: standing in a closet and ton Irving High School in Manhat-
night at her home in Santa Mon- smoking a cigarette, lit match still tan and, after graduating, volun-
ica, Calif. She was 99. in hand, while staring down at her teered at the Spanish-language
steeply foreshortened feet. newspaper La Prensa. There she
Her gallery representative, An-
(These works are reminiscent of met Daniel del Solar, a much older
drea Schwan, confirmed the
the ruminative, multitasking self- journalist, and, at age 18, married
death.
portraits of Philip Guston and of him. During their brief, peri-
A near-contemporary and patetic union, she was introduced
friend of Frida Kahlo, Isamu No- the painter Joan Semmel’s femi-
nist nudes, shown from a similar to other creative expatriates and
guchi and Agnes Martin, among intellectuals, among them Mr. No-
other prominent modern artists, guchi, the Mexican abstract paint-
the Venezuelan-born Ms. Hurtado er Rufino Tamayo and the Chilean
was an active participant in the Surrealist Roberto Matta.
art scenes of New York, Mexico Painting in the But her husband abandoned
City, Taos, N.M., and Los Angeles,
where she had lived since 1951. shadows until a vast her and their children when the
second of their two sons was still
Her work spanned Surrealism,
Mexican muralism, feminism and
archive of her work an infant — he “just came for his
books and left, and I never saw
environmentalism, and she was was discovered. him again,” she recalled. To sup-
associated with Dynaton, a group port her family, she worked as a
of mystically minded abstract art- window dresser for the Lord &
ists, among them her second hus- Taylor department store and as a
band, the Austrian-Mexican Wolf- perspective.) In some of Ms. Hur- freelance fashion illustrator for
gang Paalen, and her third hus- tado’s works, brightly patterned Condé Nast.
band, the American Lee Mullican. rugs, baskets and other decora- Ms. Hurtado took classes at the
Yet her art was rarely exhibited tive elements interrupt the intro- Art Students League and, with Mr.
until the 1970s, and then only spo- spection. Noguchi and other friends, made
radically and in small venues until “Her vision of the human body the rounds of influential galleries,
she was in her 90s, when Mr. Mul- as a part of the world, not separate including Betty Parsons and
lican’s studio manager came from nature, is more urgent today Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This
across a vast archive of her paint- than ever,” the curator Hans Ul- Century. It was through Mr. Nogu-
ings and drawings. rich Obrist wrote when she was chi that she met Mr. Paalen.
Working in graphite, watercol- named to the 2019 Time 100 list of Ms. Hurtado joined him in Mex-
or, ink and acrylic, Ms. Hurtado influential people. “Luchita’s mas- ico City in the mid-1940s and be-
depicted bodies — her own, as terly oeuvre offers an extraordi- came part of a close-knit art com-
well as totemic figures — merging nary perspective that focuses at- munity there in which Mexican
with landscapes and interiors in tention on the edges of our bodies muralists, American photogra-
electric expressions of rootedness and the language that we use to phers and European Surrealists
and communality. She sought out bridge the gap between ourselves who had fled World War II min-
diverse sources of inspiration, in- and others.” gled freely. The couple lived in the
cluding ancient traditions — cave Luchita Hurtado was born on same neighborhood as Kahlo and
paintings at Lascaux, France; Nov. 28, 1920, in Maiquetía, a Ven- her husband, the painter Diego Ri-
vera, and socialized with Leonora
Carrington, the British painter
and dream chronicler. They trav-
eled throughout Mexico collecting
pre-Columbian art, the influence
of which can be seen in Ms. Hurta-
do’s paintings from this period.
The marriage began to unravel
after Ms. Hurtado’s son Pablo,
from her first marriage, died of po-
lio. Grief-stricken, she wanted to
have another child; her husband
did not. Seeking a change of envi-
ronment, the couple moved to Mill
Valley, Calif., in 1949. There, Ms.
Hurtado reconnected with Mr.
Mullican, who, like Mr. Paalen,
was a proponent of Dynaton, a
movement informed by automa-
LUCHITA HURTADO/HAUSER & WIRTH; PHOTO BY JEFF MCLANE
tism, mysticism and indigenous
art and named after the Greek
Untitled, oil on canvas, 1970s. word for “possible.”
She moved to Los Angeles in
1951 and remained there until the
ji-xian-sheng
end of her life, with frequent for-
LUCHITA HURTADO/HAUSER & WIRTH; PHOTO BY JEFF MCLANE
ays to a second home in Taos. She
and Mr. Mullican married later in “The Umbilical Cord of the Earth Is the Moon,” oil on canvas, 1977.
the 1950s. She raised two sons
with him and supported his ca-
reer, working on her own art at
when everyone else was asleep.
Through all her relocations and
relationships, making art was a
constant — “a need, like brushing
your teeth,” she said. Yet her dedi-
cation and productivity were not
recognized until the 1970s, when
she began to participate in con-
sciousness-raising circles and
was included in group exhibitions
with a feminist angle; one of them,
“Invisible/Visible,” at the Long
Beach Museum of Art in 1972, was
LUCHITA HURTADO/HAUSER & WIRTH; PHOTO BY JEFF MCLANE organized by the artists Judy Chi-
Untitled, oil on canvas, 1969. cago and Dextra Frankel.
“There was a time when women
really didn’t show their work,” Ms.
Hurtado said in a 2019 profile in T,
The New York Times style maga-
zine.
Outside Los Angeles, however,
she remained largely unknown
until 2015, when, while working
for the estate of Mr. Mullican (who
died in 1998), his former studio di-
rector, Ryan Good, uncovered a
trove of paintings and works on
paper marked only with the ini- LAURE JOLIET
tials “L.H.” He consulted Ms. Hur-
tado, who was then using the
Ms. Hurtado in 2018. In recent years, environmental themes became more specific and urgent.
name Luchita Mullican, and found
to his surprise that the work was branch in New York. Ms. Hurtado is survived by her ings and works on paper added
hers. In 2019, the Serpentine Sackler two sons with Mr. Mullican, Matt, block-lettered texts, like “Water
Mr. Good set about finding a Gallery in London hosted the first a multimedia and performance Air Earth,” “We Are Just a
dealer to show her art; a sold-out international retrospective of Ms. artist, and John, a filmmaker; and Species, and “Mother Nature,” to
2016 exhibition at the Park View Hurtado’s art, “I Live I Die I Will two grandchildren. Her son Dan- her signature images of figures in
Gallery in Los Angeles followed, Be Reborn.” Reviewing it in The iel died in 2012. wide, open-armed stances, who
as did enthusiastic reviews. Chris- Guardian, Adrian Searle wrote, Ms. Hurtado was a vivacious seem to be merging with the trees
topher Knight, The Los Angeles “Vitality, tenderness, spookiness, presence in the many video inter- around them. Others, reprising
Times’s art critic, praised the “sal- intimacy, gawkiness, sexiness, views she gave in her later years, the top-down perspective of her
utary visual grit” of Ms. Hurtado’s subtlety, anger, jazzy abstrac- cracking wise at her questioners earlier works, showed globes
works on paper. tions, totemic figures, near with a deep, staccato laugh. She emerging like infants from the
Curators, including Anne Elle- monochromes, word paintings told Harry Smith of the “Today” birth canal.
good at the Hammer Museum in and the acutely observed come show that for her 100th birthday, “When I think about my paint-
Los Angeles, took note, and Ms. one after the other.” she wanted to dance “a very fast ing and the political and the plan-
Hurtado was included in the 2018 The show later traveled to the rumba.” et,” she told the artist Andrea
edition of the museum’s “Made in Los Angeles County Museum of In recent years, the envi- Bowers in a 2019 interview, “it’s
L.A.” biennial. The next year, Art. Another retrospective, sched- ronmental themes in her work be- about the hope that it’s not too late
Hauser & Wirth mounted a show uled for the Museo Tamayo in came more specific and urgent, as and that people can still get to-
LUCHITA HURTADO/HAUSER & WIRTH; PHOTO BY JEFF MCLANE
of her works from the 1940s and Mexico City, was canceled be- she took up the issue of climate gether and in whatever small way
A self-portrait from around 1968. ’50s, “Dark Years,” at its uptown cause of the Covid-19 pandemic. change. Some of her later paint- make a difference that adds up.”

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2 THEATER 3 TELEVISION REVIEW

In New Jersey, Millay A comedy about international

football disorder. BY MIKE HALE
and Molière for an 6 TELEVISION
outdoor audience. On concluding ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’
BY LAURA COLLINS -HUGHES BY JENNIFER VINEYARD

NEWS CRITICISM SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 C1

N

MICHAEL STARGHILL JR. FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

STEPPING INTO A NEW ORBIT

Tobe Nwigwe, a Houston rapper, has been releasing songs with videos every week for five years, but a recent track that called attention to the police killing
of Breonna Taylor has introduced his music to a larger audience on YouTube, granting unexpected fame to the former N.F.L. prospect. Page 5.

Edinburgh’s Is Bach Better

Fringe Spirit
Lives Online On a Harp?
This musician certainly thinks so.
The festival is canceled,
but some shows must go on. By PARKER RAMSAY
I suppose I have some explaining to do to
By ALICE JONES my perplexed fellow musicians, as well as to
LONDON — David Chapple began planning Glenn Gould devotees. Why? I decided to
his trip to the 2020 Edinburgh Festival transcribe Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations —
Fringe a year ago, since you can’t be too pre- for harp.
pared when you hold the world record for I’m the first to admit that my project — a
the most Fringe performances attended in recording comes out Sept. 18 on the record
one season. label of King’s College, Cambridge — can
Having seen a record-breaking 304 sound outré or precious. But I come by it
shows in 27 days in 2014, he was planning honestly: My musical path has been a tad
another Fringe viewing marathon this year unorthodox. The child of a harpist and a
for his wife’s 60th birthday. But in early trombonist, I was home-schooled in rural
April, the event — the world’s largest arts Tennessee to allow for a
festival — was canceled for the first time in weekly rotation of
lessons on harpsichord,
‘Since World War I, many musicians
its 73-year history, because of the coro-
navirus. organ and piano, inter- have showed us other sides of his
For Chapple, a civil servant who esti- mingled with youth or- work by switching up what the
mates that he spends half of his income on chestra and choir prac- pieces are played on.’
watching live comedy and keeps chickens tice (and my mother PARKER RAMSAY, LEFT
named after British stand-up comedians, it yelling at me from the
was devastating. “Edinburgh is everything, kitchen about my harp
really,” he said. “It’s the focal point of our technique).
year.” At 16, I headed to a small British boarding
The festival’s cancellation has been a big school before studying history at King’s
blow to long-term fans — and to the 30,000 College while serving as organ scholar
performers who travel to the Scottish city there. I then returned to the United States to
each August to show their work. To fill the spend two years learning historical per-
gap, some artists have gone online to try to formance at Oberlin and then two with the
capture the anarchic, diverse and some- modern harp at Juilliard.
what overwhelming experience of being at That’s a lot of different repertories, but
the Fringe. the “Goldberg” Variations were one strand
Among them is Francesca Moody, a Lon- of continuity. That continuity also brought
don-based theater producer who took the some persistent dissatisfaction. When it
original stage version of “Fleabag” to the came to Bach, I was unhappy about the pi-
CONTINUED ON PAGE C4 CONTINUED ON PAGE C4
AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES
C2 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK LAURA COLLINS -HUGHES

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NINA WESTERVELT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A Pick-Me-Up Picnic for the Drama-Starved

From outdoor plays in New
Jersey, light entertainment
exactly when we need it.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The emailed instruc-
tions from the box office tell you to put on
your mask before you even get out of your
car.
Off the parking lot, the wide, curving path
through the greenery is painted with white
Xs for social distancing, and when it opens
on a sweep of lawn, that grass too is marked
— with eight-foot circles, six feet apart, each
pod big enough for a family of five with blan-
kets and chairs, a picnic if you want.
None of this is normal, of course. But if
almost normal is what you’re yearning for, if
an alfresco evening at the theater is a fix-
ture of your summertimes, then the Shake-
speare Theater of New Jersey’s Back Yard
Stage is the place: a homey oasis in our
2020 hellscape where, for a little over an
hour, you get to feel like yourself again.
Because all those reminders of the pan-
demic fall away as soon as you’re watching
a play with live actors, barefaced and within
spitting distance of one another. Kissing dis-
tance, too.
The show is “Crazy Love!,” and it’s made
up of two separate programs: one, which I
saw, comprising Molière’s “The Love Doc-
tor” and Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Aria da
Capo”; the other, which I didn’t, a medley of
Shakespeare scenes called “Verily, Madly
Thine.”
About those actors, though, because
that’s the nervous-making part, isn’t it?
They are the theater’s non-Equity troupe,
the Shrewd Mechanicals, who were hired to
tour educational performances to schools.
Having lived and worked together since
January, they stuck around when the coro-
navirus shutdown came in March. They
have been there, in company housing, ever From the top: “The Love 3-6-1-6-6-7-5-1-3

since. Doctor” by Molière was half

So when “The Love Doctor” starts, with of New Jersey Shakespeare
the actors up close and touching (and the Theater’s “Crazy Love!”;
front row a good 25 feet from the lip of the the socially distanced
newly built stage), we’re free to enjoy it audience was no closer than
without worrying about them. This feels 25 feet from the stage; Edna
like what used to be normal: being out in St. Vincent Millay’s “Aria da
public but not on red alert. Capo,” right and far right,
Loosely translated and adapted by the was the other play.
theater’s artistic director, Bonnie J. Monte,
who directed and designed both plays on
the program I saw, “The Love Doctor” is a
silly little squib of a farce, a romcom baga-
telle that Molière dashed off in mere days.
The obtuse Sganarelle (Jeffrey Marc
Alkins) is worried about his daughter, the
sighing Lucinda (Billie Wyatt), who feigns
illness when he refuses to let her marry her
beloved, Clitandre (Isaac Hickox-Young).
Sganarelle summons a bevy of foolish doc-
tors. Lucinda’s crafty maid, Lisette (a
standout Skye Pagon), calls just one: Cli-
tandre in disguise.
Almost a distillation of Molière, this is moth dragonflies swooping low, the crazy
ideal light entertainment, with the real rococo pink of the wispy sunset clouds.
world intruding only briefly, twice: when The eight Shrewd Mechanicals are
Sganarelle dons a mask with his tricorn hat, putting their summer to good use.
which gets a laugh; and when Lucinda, pre- The second half of the program, “Aria da
tending physical distress, says, “I can’t Capo,” from 1919, is also comic but more se-
breathe.” Wyatt tries valiantly to make rious-minded. An antiwar play bracketed
those words fresh with her intonation, but Wispy pink sunset by the decadent clowns Pierrot (Christian
the echo of Black Lives Matter is inescap- clouds helped me — Frost) and Columbine (Ellie Gossage), it
able. In a scene meant to be humorous, an dare I say it? — relax. has a both-sides attitude toward conflict
over-the-top daughter bending her father to that feels out of place in our present, yet the
her will, the phrase is jarring in a way that ending twists it into timelessness. It’s hand-
surely cannot be intended. somely staged, too, with a cameo by a ro-
But “The Love Doctor” is for the most mantic crescent moon.
part fun, and a line Clitandre speaks tells I cannot tell you how good it felt to ap-
why. Sganarelle, believing him to be a physi- plaud at the end of the show with other hu-
cian, asks him how he will treat Lucinda. man beings, all of us in our separate pods
“I weave a healing web of words to charm but together on that lawn. I hadn’t realized I
the afflicted,” Clitandre says. “A single dose missed that collective chance to communi-
begins to restore well-being almost immedi- cate gratitude.
ately.” But here is what surprised me most.
That is how this show works on us, as Hours later, at home, still energized the way
medicine for the play-starved soul. Like I am energized only by live performance, I
most outdoor theater, it is as much about the noticed a physical sensation in my arms, my
experience of being in the open air as it is shoulders, my skull. It was so unfamiliar
about the performance, and the evening I that it took a while to identify.
went, there were other things to take in: It was relaxation.
prop planes humming by overhead, mam- Remember that?
 K THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N C3

MIKE HALE TELEVISION REVIEW

For Black Dancers,

A Space to Create
A residency is announced,
and its first three recipients.
By PETER LIBBEY
When the staff, leadership and advisory
committee of the New Dance Alliance gath-
ered to draft a letter in support of the Black
Lives Matter movement, the group soon re-
alized that words wouldn’t be enough to
demonstrate the organization’s commit-
ment to racial justice. “It became really ap-
parent to us that, unless we were backing it
up programmatically, whatever we were
writing was hollow,” Fernando Maneca, the
president of the Dance Alliance’s board,
said in an interview.
The group decided to reach out to Black
artists to determine what kind of material
support would be useful. On Friday, New
Dance Alliance announced the start of its
Black Artists Space to Create Residency, a
APPLE TV+ pilot program that will give recipients the
Jason Sudeikis as the title character in “Ted Lasso,” a new Apple TV+ comedy “based on pre-existing format/characters from NBC Sports.”
chance to spend two weeks at Modern Ac-
cord Depot in Accord, N.Y., in the Hudson
Valley, where they will enjoy unlimited ac-

A Nice-Guy, Non-Ugly American

cess to a dance studio and a quiet, comfort-
able living space. The residency will also
come with a $2,000 stipend.
Because the program was designed to
Jason Sudeikis is likable in a Lasso, they’ve filled in some of those gaps. ish observations. give recipients the chance to create away
There’s a screwball reason for Lasso’s hir- “That fella looked like a kitty cat when he from everyday stresses, participants will
fish-out-of-water sports sitcom ing: Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham), the gets spooked by a cucumber.” A player is not be required to present new work at the
end of their time in the Hudson Valley.
wrapped up in folksiness. owner of the fictional AFC Richmond club, “more open than the jar of peanut butter on
“We wish to radically reimagine what it
wants the team to fail to spite the former co- my kitchen counter.” “You beatin’ yourself
owner, her soccer-loving ex-husband. And up is like Woody Allen playing the clarinet. I means to serve Black artists right now and
YOU COULD HEAR THAT the new Apple TV+ there’s a sentimental reason: Lasso is giv- don’t want to hear it.” These take the place to do so in the specific spirit of reparations,”
sitcom “Ted Lasso” is based on a pair of one- ing his own wife (Andrea Anders) some of jokes, but they’re presented so straight- Mr. Maneca said in a statement.
Bottom, Angie Pittman,
joke video promos, made for NBC Sports, space by moving to London while she stays forwardly that even if you feel like laughing, The first residency recipients are Johnnie
who is one of three
and have a “What is the world coming to?” in Kansas. you’re not sure if you should. Cruise Mercer, Leslie Cuyjet and Angie
dance artists selected
moment. But that would just mean you had You can predict most of the sports-com- Pittman. Ms. Pittman, who is also an advi-
Sudeikis, a “Saturday Night Live” alum- for the New Dance
forgotten about “Cavemen” (2007), based edy heartbreak and uplift that flow from sory board member at New Dance Alliance
nus, has a preternatural ability to commit to Alliance’s Black Artists
on a series of Geico ads, or “Hey Vern, It’s these premises — the big games, the locker- and part of the group that conceived of the
the slightest wisp of a character, and he’s be- Space to Create
Ernest” (1988), an outgrowth of local spots room speeches, the drunken road-trip hook- project, has been hired as residency direc-
lievable and even likable as Lasso, a charac- Residency program.
featuring the supremely annoying Ernest P. ups, the selfish players coming around. tor. She will guide the program going for-
ter who makes no sense except as an avatar ward. (Mr. Maneca said Ms. Pittman was
Worrell. What you wouldn’t guess, and may be con- of a mythical Midwestern good-hearted- not involved in the process that led to her
I haven’t, which is why I can state with tinually stunned by, is how determinedly ness. (With his strong sense of self and his being selected as an inaugural resident.)
some confidence that “Ted Lasso” is not the
propensity for launching into stories no one “While we are honored to offer this resi-
worst television series based on commer-
wants to hear, Lasso is like a Bizarro World dency program, we understand that the
cials. And with the recent debuts of “Intelli- Ted Lasso
version of the cynical drunk played by Hank ideas around it are not new and not ours,”
gence” on Peacock and “Wild Bill” on Brit- New episodes streaming Fridays on Apple TV+
Box, it’s not even the worst comedy this Azaria in a much better sports sitcom, Ms. Pittman said in a statement. “As a Black
year about an American who comes to Brit- “Brockmire.”) artist working with a white-led organiza-
ain for work and struggles to fit in. And while it’s hard to really care about tion, I want to make sure we credit the
cornball the show is. It’s as if Sudeikis et al.
Admittedly, those are low bars to cross, whether Lasso will win over the scheming, countless Black, femme scholars and activ-
foresaw the chaos and terror of the summer
like not being the worst pumpkin spiced of 2020 and wanted to prove that America foul-mouthed Brits and keep Richmond ists who have called for the equitable pay-
latte. And “Ted Lasso,” which debuted Fri- from being relegated, the shopworn story ment of Black folks.”
could do something right.
day with three of its 10 half-hour episodes, In its relentless positivity and commit- has been filmed and assembled with style
does not clear them with much room to ment to making its audience comfortable and professionalism. Half of the episodes
spare. You won’t forget the line prominently while maintaining a sheen of pop-cult know- were directed either by Tom Marshall, the
placed in the credits, between writer and di- ingness, “Ted Lasso” is the dad pants of sit- primary director of the terrific Michaela
rector, that reads, “Based on pre-existing coms. It contains some of the foul language Coel series “Chewing Gum,” or by Declan
format/characters from NBC Sports.” and snickering sexual humor that stream- Lowney, who directed the first season of the
The pre-existing protagonist is Ted ing allows, but they’re an excuse for terrific Chris O’Dowd series “Moone Boy.”
Lasso, a small-time American football Sudeikis to goggle his eyes and purse his The show works overtime to present
coach hired to manage a British soccer lips in a way that says Lasso is wholesome Lasso as a non-ugly American (except for
team and played in both the commercials enough to notice but cool enough not to his aversion to tea), a winning package of
and the series by Jason Sudeikis. The ads, make a thing out of it. old-fashioned Kansas values and mostly
made in 2013 and 2014 to promote NBC’s While it plays out the clichés of both the woke sensitivity. He’s also, if you look more
coverage of English Premier League soc- inspirational sports tale and the fish-out-of- closely, just a nice guy whose life is compli-
cer, mocked Lasso’s utter unsuitability for water comedy — Lasso struggling to under- cated by an embittered, scheming woman
the job and gave no indication of why he was stand the offsides rule, Lasso not knowing (the club owner) and a wishy-washy, unap-
given it. how hot the Indian food is going to be — the preciative woman (his wife), and who finds
Now that Sudeikis and the sitcom veteran show bathes us in folksiness, from Marcus solace with other men. To borrow a phrase,
Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs,” “Spin City”), Mumford’s twangy music to Lasso’s end- that’s kind of like Woody Allen playing the
among others, have built a series around less supply of aphorisms and down-home- clarinet.
SIMON COURCHEL

Two Not Touch Crossword Edited by Will Shortz

ANSWERS TO
PREVIOUS PUZZLES PUZZLE BY JOE DIPIETRO
ACROSS 35 Playwright who 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
wrote “We are all
1 Unrepaired
born mad. Some 14 15 16
5 Terse turndown remain so”
to an invitation 36 Shade at the
17 18 19

11 “No ___” beach

20 21 22
14 Romance 37 Caper
novelist’s award 38 ___ classic 23 24 25 26

15 One taking a bow 39 Sharp 27 28

16 One of the 40 1962 Stanley
pioneers of the Kubrick film 29 30 31 32 33
internet
46 Like some winter 34
17 Internet windshields
marketing metric 35
48 This might be
19 Smallest possible cast in a police
Put two stars in each row, column and region of the grid. No two stars may touch, not even diagonally. band drama 36 37
Copyright © 2020 www.krazydad.com
20 Commands 49 It self-replicates 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
21 Monkey 50 Not stay on the

Wit Twister
46 47 48
23 Shows same page, say
friendliness, in a 52 With 55-Across, 49 50 51
way film comedy
24 Lead-in to bomb of 1994 52 53 54
My book-length guide to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Complete the verse with words gender 53 Brokerage giant
that are anagrams of each other. founded in 1991 55 56 57
A firestorm of complaints: “Get slim on bread?! Each underline represents a letter. 25 One of the
PUZZLE BY NANCY COUGHLIN
film-directing 54 Diner manager in
Wachowskis 8/15/20
Your facts are wrong, your views on carbs shortsighted. “Garfield”
You’ll need to do some _ _ _ _ _ _ _,” they said. YESTERDAY’S ANSWER Nairobi (nigh + row B)
27 Word whispered 55 See 52-Across 2 Finercut, 12 Bit of 34 Comfort Inn
by the quiet usually unpleasantness competitor
old lady in 56 Not just rank
“Goodnight 57 It appears in 3 Anxious 13 ___ Worms 35 ___ fly
Moon” stacks (1980s toys)

KenKen 28 Like most

proverbs, in brief
DOWN
4 Something
the force is
responsible for?
18
22
“In a way”
Protest
40

41
Scrim material
Pablo Neruda’s
ANSWERS TO “___ to Wine”
PREVIOUS PUZZLES 29 An order might 5 Landscapers 24 Part of a place
1 About 5% of
be one may find them setting 42 Late civil rights
the world’s leader John
hard to handle
34 Bar requirement population 26 “___ news?”
6 Asylums 43 Prelim
27 Only musician
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE 7 Bigmanufacturer to hit #1 on the 44 “Ich liebe dich” :
of bar code Billboard Hot German :: “___” :
K A A M S U T R A A N
G S T scanners 100 as both a Spanish
A T T I A G A I N S E
R T A vocalist and an
8 “Youreally have instrumentalist 45 Time spent close
F L T A W H I T E S H
O O P a warped mind!” to home
K A E T L A W Y E R
U P 29 Shown in more
9 Receive than one place 47 No goldbrick
A S N A A S E R U
P T S
surprising news
D R U M B E A T C H I 30 Make match 48 Stay close to
L A M P O O N S T H A N 10 Beehive State shore, say
city 31 “That’s my ___”
G I N S D U O B O A T
32 Arrives at in a 49 Dance move
D A F T B A N K R U P T 11 Prepared to
vehicle
A L E S O L D I E R S move to the 51 ___ Sherman
Fill the grid with digits so as not to repeat a digit in any row or column, and so that the digits within each B O S S E D P R E G G O sticks? 33 Artichoke heart? cigars
heavily outlined box will produce the target number shown, by using addition, subtraction, multiplication or S W A N S O N G C H O U
division, as indicated in the box. A 4x4 grid will use the digits 1-4. A 6x6 grid will use 1-6. S H O T S P E L L G R A N T Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles,
For solving tips and more KenKen puzzles: www.nytimes.com/kenken. For feedback: nytimes@kenken.com E E R I E E Y E O P E N E R nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).
KenKen® is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC. Copyright © 2020 www.KENKEN.com. All rights reserved. A S K E D D O N T S T A R E Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.
C4 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

Is Bach Better on a Modern Pedal Harp?

CONTINUED FROM PAGE C1
ano’s awkwardness with hand crossings,
the harpsichord’s lack of dynamic vitality
and the tootiness of organ pipes.
I kept struggling with what my ideal
“Goldbergs” might sound like. I wanted the
raw pluckiness of the harpsichord, but with
the expressive qualities of the piano. About
five years ago, I came to realize that the
way to hear this work — and most of Bach,
for that matter — as I wanted would be to
use my first instrument, the modern pedal
harp.
Thinking that a piece known almost ex-
clusively on keyboard could be transmuted
to harp isn’t so fanciful: Bach himself ap-
pears to have often been agnostic on mat-
ters of instrumentation. Like many com-
posers of his time, he was constantly bor-
rowing and rearranging his own composi-
tions. The Double Violin Concerto,
composed around 1719, turns up some 20
years later as a concerto for two harpsi-
chords. The Preludio from the Third Violin
Partita, written in 1720, reappears in 1731 as
a Sinfonia to Cantata 29, rescored for organ
obbligato and orchestra. And the Siciliano
from the second sonata for viola da gamba
is better known as “Erbarme dich,” from the
“St. Matthew Passion.”
In the 18th century, transcription and ar-
rangement were a means of preservation
and dissemination. Bach himself produced
solo organ and harpsichord transcriptions
of violin and oboe concertos by Vivaldi,
Alessandro Marcello and Telemann. His
cantata “Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden” is
a re-orchestration in full of Pergolesi’s “Sta-
bat Mater,” using a Lutheran translation of
Psalm 51 in place of the original Latin text.
Fast forward to the end of the century, and
we find transcriptions of fugues from
Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” in Mo-
zart’s and Beethoven’s hands, rescored for
string ensembles.
Outright ambiguity exists in some of
Bach’s best-known works. “The Art of AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Fugue” and the ricercars from “The Musi-
cal Offering” have no indication as to what The harpist Parker it comes to the “Goldberg” Variations, for implied counterpoint, whereby the left hand is not in the right hand’s melody, but in the
forces ought to perform them. There is de- Ramsay’s recording of which the boundaries of performance re- jumps around so much that it conceivably left hand’s harmonic pattern. If one looks to
bate about whether “The Well-Tempered Bach’s “Goldberg” main largely defined by the recordings represents two voices rather than one. The the score, the left hand of the opening Aria is
Clavier” was intended for harpsichord or Variations is coming out made by the harpsichordist Gustav Leon- pianist can differentiate with volume, mak- composed in “style brisé” (“broken style”),
clavichord. And in the curious case of the next month. hardt and by Gould, who recorded them ing the lower notes a little heavier than the indicating the continuity and sustenance of
Fantasia in G, Bach included a single pedal twice on piano. Perhaps because of the smaller notes on top. The harpsichordist, on multiple voices, akin to the arpeggiated
note outside the playable range of any in- work’s purity — or austerity, depending the other hand, lengthens the lowest notes style typical of performances by plucked in-
strument he had access to, but one that how you look at it — transcriptions of the as long as possible, to feign some dynamic struments like the lute and harp.
would have been commonplace on larger “Goldbergs” are usually seen as novelty contrast, while making the upper notes The harp isn’t perfect. It struggles with
organs in France. projects, somehow stepping on the key- shorter by contrast. On the harp, one intense chromaticism, since the harpist
The musicologist Donald Tovey wrote boardist’s turf. While orchestral transcrip- needn’t choose. As the instrument has no must use his feet in an elaborate pedal
that “Bach wrote on the principle, not that tions of organ fugues and ricercars have be- damping mechanism, the two voices keep mechanism to achieve sharps and flats. And
music was written for instruments, but that come mainstream, and Busoni’s piano ren- sustaining, while creating some harmonic we only play with eight fingers, as the
instruments are made for music.” Since dition of the great D Minor Chaconne, origi- ambiguity. pinkies are too short. As a result, some tem-
World War I, many musicians have showed nally for solo violin, is considered standard In Variation 20, a pianist has to figure out
pos have to be slower and the aura of the
us other sides of his work by switching up rep, no transcription or adaptation of the how to make multiple voices ring while the
work becomes quieter and more intimate.
what the pieces are played on. Wanda “Goldbergs” has yet stuck. hands are fumbling around one another.
Landowska was one of the original icono- (This can actually be an advantage.)
There are those who prefer to hear the While this is perhaps easier on the harpsi-
clasts, making history with the first harpsi- work as they imagine Bach might have chord, the lack of dynamics accentuates the The elephant in the room is that Bach
chord recording of the “Goldbergs,” after done — on the harpsichord — while others natural dryness of the instrument. But the never wrote for the harp, and it’s likely he
they had been performed solely on the pi- would rather take the variations in on the harp allows for the bass line to sustain while could not have conceived of an instrument
ano for over a century. Stokowski’s and modern piano, our culture’s go-to instru- playing other voices, and is less compli- that looked and sounded the way it does.
Webern’s atmospheric re-orchestrations of ment (like the harpsichord presumably was cated to perform, as the hands approach the But I never felt I had gotten into Bach’s
Bach fugues; Wendy Carlos’s mind-blow- in Bach’s). The results are very different: strings from opposite directions. brain until I took the plunge into transcrip-
ing “Brandenburg” Concertos on the Moog The harpsichord allows for very distinct ar- Everywhere in the “Goldbergs,” the tion. To my mind, his music is written for all
synthesizer; Chris Thile’s fast-as-lighting ticulation and encourages rhythmic flexibil- harp’s lengthy “overring” allows harmonies instruments and none, and the harp is just
mandolin treatments of the Violin Partitas: ity, while the piano’s natural suaveness sug- to take over, rather than melodies. This is another instrument as invisible to Bach as
With many of Bach’s works, there’s now a gests a more straightforward approach. perhaps apt, as the melody heard at the be- his mind is to us. Time’s distance prevents
general recognition that transcription is not My solution? Take the piece to the harp. ginning and end of the work never resur- us from asking the master any questions, so
only fair game, but even an expectation. In the opening of Variation 1, keyboardists faces. Indeed, one thing that makes the why should we place any restrictions on
And yet things have been different when spend hours trying to amplify instances of “Goldbergs” so interesting is that the theme how and what we inquire of his music?

“Shedinburgh” is just one way theater

makers are keeping the Fringe flame burn-
ing. Fringe on Friday is a weekly hourlong
cabaret streaming from performers’
homes; Edinburgh Unlocked is a comedy
festival in audiobook form from Penguin
Random House, featuring 15-minute sets
from stand-ups whose shows were can-
celed; Zoo TV is offering on-demand
streaming of past Edinburgh perform-
ances; and Fringe of Colour is screening
daily films by artists of color.
STEVE BEST
Corrie McGuire, a comedy producer and
agent who has staged the raucously interac-

Edinburgh’s tive midnight show “Spank!” at the Edin-

burgh Fringe for the past 15 years, esti-
mates that her agency lost £60,000

Fringe Spirit
“overnight” when the theaters closed in
March. A quarter of that would have come
from Edinburgh.
Last week, she staged the first online

Lives Online “Spank!” with the stand-up comedians Lau-

ren Pattison and Emmanuel Sonubi per-
forming from their bedrooms; Magical
CONTINUED FROM PAGE C1 Bones, a break-dancing magician, doing
Fringe in 2013 and had planned to stage tricks in his kitchen; and Vikki Stone sing-
three plays in Edinburgh this month. ing songs from her attic.
When the festival was called off, her fel- To combat the “Zoom fatigue” that many
low theater-maker Gary McNair joked that people are feeling amid the plethora of on-
he would have to stage a “Shed Fringe” line events and meetings during the pan-
from his garden instead — a pun that “set demic, McGuire said, she created a virtual
cogs whirring” in Moody’s producer brain. front row in which 10 audience members
Six weeks ago, she came up with Shedin- RICHARD LAKOS could volunteer to “sit up front” and have
burgh, an online festival of comedy and their microphones taken off mute so that
drama that streams live from a garden shed ues, said Rebecca Monks, a spokeswoman Top left, David Chapple, a performers could hear their reactions.
for three weeks starting on Friday. for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. record-setting Edinburgh “Being able to have people from all over
In fact, there are two sheds, each measur- They were preparing for a similar-scale fes- Fringe attendee, with the the world watching the same gig gave it real
ing six feet by eight feet: one onstage at tival to last year’s, in which over 3,800 comedian Jayde Adams Edinburgh energy,” she added.
London’s Soho Theatre, the other at the shows were staged and more than three at the 2018 festival. The comedian Mark Watson — who made
Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Both ven- million tickets were sold. Above from left Gary his name in 2004 with a 24-hour comedy gig
ues have been closed since March, when the Edinburgh is “the way that arts organiza- McNair, Annie George, in a basement in Edinburgh’s Old Town —
British government ordered theaters to tions, venues, TV production companies Harriet Bolwell and has embraced the festival’s madcap, have-
shut to help slow the spread of the coro- find new work — the fact that it doesn’t exist Francesca Moody with a-go, collaborative essence more than most,
navirus. one of the sheds used for
this year will have a significant impact,” over 20 years of performances.
Setting up the sheds inside is a nod to the “Shedinburgh,” a
said Moody, who knows how life-changing a Having staged a number of marathon
questing spirit of the Fringe, which takes livestreamed comedy and
successful Fringe can be. shows, Watson now plans to host a 24-hour
over every corner of the city of Edinburgh drama festival. Left,
each August, transforming pubs and gar- When she and Waller-Bridge took Fringe gig from his sofa in south London at
Mark Watson.
dens, gyms, parking lots and lecture the- “Fleabag” to a dank vault under Edin- the end of the month to raise money for co-
aters into performance spaces. burgh’s George IV Bridge seven years ago, medians whose livelihoods were flattened
“The cancellation of the Fringe has left a they raised money on Kickstarter, didn’t by the pandemic.
massive hole,” said Moody, who has at- pay themselves and gave away tickets for His plan, which he describes as “insanely
tended the festival for 17 years. “This is an the first week to fill the 60-seater room. It ambitious,” is to recreate the feel of the
opportunity to acknowledge how magical became one of that year’s most talked- monthlong festival in a day — its “general
the festival is, how important it is to me and about shows, which led to a run at London’s mayhem and the wild outpouring of ideas”
to a lot of the artists who have had success Soho Theatre, where it caught the attention — by hosting the gig on the livestreaming
there.” CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
of the BBC’s head of comedy. platform Twitch, with guest spots from well-
Thanks to social distancing rules and This year, such opportunities have essen- known comedians and newer talents.
space restrictions, the “Shed-ule” is domi- for artists aiming to stage a show at the tially vanished. “For all those artists who The Fringe is a sort of “state of the nation
nated by one-person shows, from artists Fringe next year. were taking their first shot at the Fringe this for comedy,” Watson said.
like Jack Rooke, Deborah Frances-White Before planning was halted because of year,” Moody said, “that work might never “I don’t think we can let something like
and Tim Crouch. Audiences will watch on the pandemic, this year’s Edinburgh Fringe resurface, because they might not have the the Fringe die,” he added. “It’s gone for now,
Zoom after donating at least 4 pounds ($5) Festival had confirmed more than 2,200 strong foundations, or the support, to carry but the spirit of it needs to stay alive — for
per ticket, and profits will go toward a fund shows from 48 countries in about 230 ven- on.” good.”
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N C5

A Close-Knit Team Lifts a Conscientious Rapper

Tobe Nwigwe has been
working diligently for years,
but a recent track has greatly
expanded his audience.
By LESLIE PARISEAU
HOUSTON — Tobe Nwigwe has spent five
years as an independent rapper and singer
on the Houston scene, building an audience
— including fans like Erykah Badu and Mi-
chelle Obama — with weekly song drops
that unfailingly arrive with a brand-new
video. His plan has always been consis-
tency, not virality. But sudden, unexpected
fame arrived last month after he released a
track that called attention to the police
killing of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.
“I need you to,” Nwigwe sings as the
track opens. Then in his typical sober rum-
ble, he raps, “Arrest the killers of Breonna
Taylor.” The entire song, called “I Need You
To (Breonna Taylor),” is 44 seconds long,
with spare production. It was reposted by
Diddy, LeBron James, Madonna and Amy
Schumer, among others. “Try Jesus,” a bal-
lad he released at the end of July, has be-
come even more popular. It has more than a
million YouTube views and helped him land
his first two placements on Billboard’s
genre sales charts.
On a recent morning, Nwigwe, 33, was at
work as usual, shooting a video for a song
called “Eat” in his sea-foam green living
room, wearing a sea-foam green outfit and a
gold grill. He was surrounded by his usual
production crew, including his wife, Fat, 32,
and their best friend and producer, LaNell
Grant, 31, known as Nell. As the camera
moved around him, the rapper held his
arms out so that Ivory, 1, his eldest of two
daughters, could join him. Baby Fat, as she
is affectionately called by her family, looked
around, a sly smile on her face, and finally
wiggled her way onto the set.
Nwigwe’s family has always played a
large role in his art. Though Tobe Nwigwe is
the name on the songs, Fat and Grant are
inextricable from the final product. Operat-
ing outside the label system, with no pub-
licity representation or managers, the three
handle all of their personal and professional
business themselves: designing their out-
fits, booking gigs and watching each other’s
children.
“Because I do this with my family, I don’t
even want people that I don’t know like that
around my family,” Nwigwe said in an inter-
view the evening before the shoot. “I don’t
believe in somebody who didn’t help me
build everything —” he added before Grant
finished his sentence, “come in and take.” In
sweats and their signature white shin-
length socks, the three sat in swivel chairs,
ribbing one another with inside jokes.
Hip-hop wasn’t always on the agenda for
Nwigwe. “I thought I was going to be the
next Ray Lewis,” he said, referring to a for-
mer pro football player, as he rocked Ivory
to sleep. He grew up Tobechuwu Nwigwe in
the Southwest Alief neighborhood of Hous-
ton with Nigerian immigrant parents and
focused on sports, though his family hoped
he might become a doctor, lawyer, engineer
or pilot. An N.F.L. prospect, he was a line-
backer for the University of North Texas,
working out twice a day, plowing through
bodies and cheating on his homework, he
said, until he experienced a career-ending
injury.
Grant, who went to the same high school,
thought she might make the W.N.B.A., but
instead became a high school English
teacher, taking production classes in her off
hours. Fat, (born Ivory Rogers) from Grand
Rapids, Mich., had an idea she might be an
artist, but felt sure that she was supposed to
move to Houston. The three came together
while working with the “edutainment” non-
profit Nwigwe founded to help Alief chil- MICHAEL STARGHILL JR. FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
dren figure out their purpose. After finding
validation and financial support from the The rapper and singer husband, Cory, lived at the Nwigwe house- Nwigwe’s response? “What can you do
motivational speaker Eric Thomas and his Tobe Nwigwe and his hold part time, patting her belly and an- Moving from football to for me that I’m not already doing?” The
business partner Carlas Quinney, they be- crew, from left: LaNell nouncing herself in “baby season.” music, but retaining question is, what can you do for an artist
gan focusing on music in earnest. Grant, his producer; The music has also always had a spiritual who has built his own beautiful, efficient en-
combative instincts.
In 2017, Nwigwe began making videos Nwigwe; his daughter element. Nwigwe said he wrote “I Need You gine, fueled by his family and best friends,
and dropping weekly singles on YouTube Ivory; his wife, Fat; and To (Breonna Taylor)” because he had a without giving up ownership or profit?
and Instagram for what he called #get- his daughter Sage. dream in which God told him to. “Make It “Fifty million dollars!” Grant said with a
TWISTEDsundays. In early releases, he Home,” another recent release, is a slow, gives Grant a few descriptive words to cackle. But then she got serious, explaining
sits on the floor of his living room rapping soulful ballad that wishes an idyllic afterlife translate into a track. When he wants a that the label system might simply not be
while Fat, with her gently chiseled stoicism, upon his crew. “This for the nappy heads in dress or a tunic designed — right now, in- right for them. “I don’t know if what you do
twists his hair or folds laundry. As the music heaven/With a nappy head Christ by they spired by his trips to Nigeria and Japan — translates to what we do,” she said.
grew tighter and more stylized, so did the side/Yeah, may your streets be paved with he pieces together ideas on Pinterest and “The thing about us,” Nwigwe said, “is
sets (fields, gyms, warehouses, caves) and gold/Yeah, hope my whole hood makes it sends them to a local Cameroonian tailor. we’re not lazy.”
the outfits (gold mesh robes, brocade tu- home.” The only thing Nwigwe does entirely alone The Nwigwe engine revved as the “Eat”
nics, tie-dye sweatsuits). Nwigwe, who grew up Catholic, de- is writing and freestyling. shoot carried on. Three dancers called the
The videos have always been very per- scribes his relationship with God as a way The group is so locked in to its own Black Angels Collective ran through their
sonal, intermingling conversations about to channel his instincts, which, like his foot- rhythms and systems that when record la- choreography in tiered sea-foam tulle
topics like Black men’s experiences with ball skills, lean combative. “Try Jesus” illus- bels come calling — Nwigwe said he had pants. Grant took a steamer to her and
PTSD and child rearing, candid moments of trates the point: “Try Jesus/Not me/’Cause been contacted by Mass Appeal, Roc Nation Nwigwe’s linen outfits. Fat twisted Ivory’s
the group on tour and even Nwigwe’s pro- I throw hands.” and Sony — executives don’t quite know hair and touched up her lipstick. And
posal to Fat. “This is what life looks like all Today, he diverts this energy into collabo- what to offer them. “They have someone Nwigwe reminded everyone to keep their
the time,” Nwigwe said. Grant laughed exu- ration with his team. When there’s an at- call you and say, ‘Anything we can do,’” Fat vibe up, to yell the lyrics if they needed to
berantly as she explained that she and her mosphere he wants infused into a song, he said. make it feel more real.

Only 50 to an Audience for 2 Massachusetts Plays

The productions, which began perform- to run at a loss; the reduced capacity will
By MICHAEL PAULSON ances last week, are taking place outdoors, exacerbate that.
Two closely watched summer theater pro- under tents, in the Berkshires region of “We are cooperating fully and faithfully
ductions — the first in the United States Western Massachusetts. In each case, per- with local and state health authorities, un-
with union actors since the coronavirus formers are regularly tested for the virus; der whose direction we are reshuffling audi-
pandemic exploded — are being required to audience members must wear masks and ences to meet the latest reduction in capaci-
reduce their seating capacity to comply have temperature checks. ty order,” Nick Paleologos, the executive di-
with changing local regulations. The productions were the first permitted rector of the theater, said in a statement. “In
Productions of “Godspell” at Berkshire by Actors’ Equity, the labor union repre- addition, we continue to comply with the
Theater Group and “Harry Clarke” at Bar- senting performers and stage managers, strictest of safety protocols which include:
rington Stage Company will each allow only during the pandemic. The union has since
temperature checks, regular testing, con-
50 people to be present — down from 100 — also agreed to allow its members to return
tact tracing, masks, social distancing, sani-
after the State of Massachusetts rolled back to work at Disney World and to participate
its reopening protocols in an effort to slow tizer, and surface disinfection.”
in the Netflix filming of a Broadway musi-
the spread of the disease. cal, “Diana” (with no audience present). Julianne Boyd, the artistic director at
“They reached out to us right away, and When it became clear that it would have Barrington Stage, said she is also cutting
although they wanted an exception to the to reduce capacity, Berkshire Theater back capacity for “Harry Clarke,” a one-per-
SARA KRULWICH/THE NEW YORK TIMES
revised order, they realized they had to Group halted all future sales for “Godspell” son show that ends its run Sunday.
There’s even extra elbow room under the tent as the State of Massachusetts come into compliance, so they’re bringing and began trying to rebook some ticket “We have to reduce our audiences to 50 —
has ordered the Berkshire Theater Group to cut audience size in half. their numbers down to 50,” said Gina Arm- holders. The theater is also exploring that’s what the governor said, and we’ll do
strong, the director of public health in Pitts- whether to add a performance or two before it,” she said. She said she is still trying to fig-
field, Mass., where both productions are the show closes Sept. 4. ure out how the rules will affect two outdoor
taking place. Both productions were already expected concerts she has planned later this month.
C6 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020

ASK A SHOWRUNNER

JENNIFER CLASEN/ABC

Farewell to ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

Jed Whedon and Maurissa ending. It was so bittersweet. There was a of time travel experts write diagrams so we
lump in our throats at every turn. could wrap our heads around it and make it
Tancharoen discuss creating TANCHAROEN We had no idea we were pre- consistent with the M.C.U. and everything
an emotional series finale. dicting the near future with our social-dis- we had done in the past. The short answer is
tance ending, our virtual Zoom call between that we solved some of it.
the characters. Of course, we conceived of Did the altered timelines in “S.H.I.E.L.D.”
By JENNIFER VINEYARD
all that before 2020. If we were developing actually shift time enough to enable events
This interview includes spoilers for the se- the last season right now —— in “Infinity War” and “Endgame”? Did the
ries finale of “Marvel’s Agents of WHEDON There would be a virus story line. show ultimately reconnect with the Marvel
S.H.I.E.L.D.” It would have a different tone. movies in the end? Some of the Time
Stream is melting my brain.
Almost exactly eight years ago, the hus- If you were developing it now, would you
band-and-wife writing partners Jed Whe- have expanded upon the sexism and racism TANCHAROEN Melting brains is what we do.
don and Maurissa Tancharoen were having of the 1930s and 1950s that the characters I’m still confused a bit, too.
a pitch meeting at a Brentwood sushi encounter when they time-travel to those WHEDON Some of the stuff they did with
restaurant in Los Angeles with Jed’s cele- decades this season? time travel in “Endgame” indicated that
brated older brother Joss and two Marvel there are other timelines where other ad-
Television executives. The Whedon-Tan- TANCHAROEN There would have been more
of an opportunity to do that with Mack ventures are occurring. We’re following the
charoen trio had already collaborated on multiverse rule. The only way that someone
the musical “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along [Henry Simmons], obviously. But we were
able to turn those issues into metaphor and survives Thanos’s snap in the movies is go
Blog” (along with another Whedon brother, into the quantum realm, and we originally
Zack) and had written the short-lived Fox address them with time travel and have
Deke [Jeff Ward], being a man out of time, did plan to give that a mention — because
TV show “Dollhouse.” MITCH HAASETH/ABC
we used the quantum realm to move be-
comment on how absurd the racial and so-
Their latest idea was a TV show set in the tween timelines — but it got cut for time.
cause we feel that we’ve said goodbye to the Top. from left, the actors cial injustice is. Just him learning about
Marvel Cinematic Universe about the fic-
show a number of times now. We tied every- Clark Gregg and Chloe white privilege was a fun thing to play with. TANCHAROEN It’s very clear that Fitz and
tional Marvel Comics agency S.H.I.E.L.D.
one’s arcs up with a nice little bow back in Bennet with Jed Whedon When we first pitched the show, we all Simmons now live a life that they want to
(the Strategic Homeland Intervention, En-
Season 5. and Maurissa Tancharoen, wanted it to reflect the world that we live in live, retired and raising a daughter.
forcement and Logistics Division), which is
the husband-and-wife and what it aspires to be — a world full of WHEDON With everyone else, they’re on a
dedicated to investigating the paranormal JED WHEDON We wanted this to be different,
showrunners of “Marvel’s diversity, where men and women are on new journey, which allows the audience to
and supernatural. The budget for the pro- not another goodbye. We landed on the feel-
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” equal footing when it comes to fighting the fill in what they believe could happen next.
posed series was to be a fraction of what is ing of nostalgia, a feeling of moving on as
Above, Bennet in the series good fight. That’s been evident throughout
spent on Marvel films, but it would place life changes around you. It’s not a sense of TANCHAROEN That iconic image at the end of
finale. Whedon, below, said: the series, in front of the camera, behind the
one of the movies’ characters at its center: loss. Lives change. Paths diverge. You have Coulson, flying off into whatever lies
“We wanted this to be camera, and also in our storytelling. It was a
Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). that sense of longing, nostalgia and connec- ahead? I’m just going to cry.
different, not another show about hope and love, filled with beau-
“We knew that our show would be charac- tion with people with whom you spent lots There are so many spinoffs that could
goodbye. We landed on the tiful, diverse faces.
ter-focused, about getting to know these of time. happen because there’s Quake in space,
people, and slowly building a team that be- feeling of nostalgia.” Losing Iain De Caestecker to other produc-
TANCHAROEN I was not only working with with Sousa and Kora . . .
comes a family,” said Jed Whedon, who tions meant he was absent for much of this
my show family but with my actual family. season. How did you sort that out? Did you WHEDON All the adventures on Kitson. The
oversaw the show with Tancharoen and
My father was there from Day 1, working in stories will continue. I think of it as when a
Jeffrey Bell. (The elder Whedon, credited
transportation. My brother [Kevin Tan-
‘It was so bittersweet. ever worry about keeping Fitz and Simmons
song you love fades out, and we’re sort of
as a creator, stayed focused on directing the
charoen] came on and directed over a dozen There was a lump in apart too much?
allowed to keep singing it in our heads.
“Avengers” films.) our throats at every As we were ending Season 6, we
episodes. I have countless memories where WHEDON
I assume Deke continues to use his knowl-
The resulting series, “Marvel’s Agents of knew we were going to have very little Fitz.
S.H.I.E.L.D.,” went on to have a successful
my daughter is sitting on [the producer] turn.’ edge of the future, singing songs in the ’80s
Megan Thomas Bradner’s lap, I’m watching So we sort of jumped in with time travel,
seven-season run on ABC, which ended before they’ve been written? We don’t see
my husband talking to my brother, setting knowing that we were creating a puzzle that
Wednesday with a complex two-hour series how he fares in his alternate timeline.
up a shot, and my father is nearby, at craft would be very hard to solve. For Fitz, one of
finale. That didn’t seem especially likely af- the things that justified it is that for him, There was talk of flashing to what
service. So much of our experience bled into WHEDON
ter its rough debut in 2013. Some critics only a moment in time has passed. And we he was doing, but that would have undercut
what we were trying to say. Jumping the
wanted flashier connections to Marvel cine- knew it would a fun boost of adrenaline for the emotional development. He’s playing
characters ahead a year also amplifies the
ma — where was Iron Man? — and the show the production and the actors to be able to Madison Square Garden, singing “Money
bittersweet feeling, because it’s clear they
had to operate in the shadow of the movies: play in different time periods and tell for Nothing,” but it’s a S.H.I.E.L.D. opera-
have moved on.
The existence of magic couldn’t be acknowl- stories based on S.H.I.E.L.D. history. tion.
edged until it was first revealed by the 2016 WHEDON On the last day, we went over to
The problem is that there are so many de- TANCHAROEN That would have our dream
film “Doctor Strange” first; “life-model de- see the last shot, and Chloe Bennet sat down
tails! And with time travel stories, loose end credit sequence.
coys,” a kind of android, weren’t permissible with tears in her eyes. She joined the show
ends can turn you into a pretzel, your best
until an android character appeared in [as Skye/Daisy/Quake] when she was 20 Any other wish-list items left unfulfilled? A
friends into enemies and the writers’ room
“Avengers: Age of Ultron.” years old, she grew up on it, and now it was musical episode, maybe, considering Jed
into a war zone. [Laughs.] We had a couple
But about halfway through its run, the writes music and Chloe Bennet used to be a
show began reinventing itself, with charac- pop singer?
ters ping-ponging through space, time and
alternative realities. Once the writers freed TANCHAROEN Was that our secret wish of
themselves of the timeline and narrative re- wishes? Yes. If there were a Season 8, our
straints established by the movies (and entire cast would jump at the chance, and all
even ignored a few), the series started to of them can dance.
soar. WHEDON And Quake can control vibrations!
“We could just make up our own stories,” We did get to check off a lot of other boxes
Jed Whedon said. “It was liberating.” on our wish list. This last season, we lined
In the final season, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents up a bunch of sharks every week and
hopped around different decades, with a pit jumped over them.
stop in the 1980s that provided pure pop- Unlike with our agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., this
geek joy. (Agent Coulson as Max Head- won’t be your last mission together, will it?
room? Check.)
But the show never lost its emotional TANCHAROEN Not unless we get a divorce!
core: the relationship between Agents Fitz [Laughs.] Which might be in line with the
(Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Eliza- theme of 2020 — everything’s falling apart!
beth Henstridge), who crossed the galaxy WHEDON We are writing new stuff.
more than once to be together, only to be re-
Might there finally be a sequel to “Dr. Horri-
peatedly pulled apart. In the finale, they re-
ble’s Sing-Along Blog”? You dropped a few
united, as Fitz helped the ragtag team save
hints this season, such as Coulson’s refer-
both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Earth from a take-
ence to a certain henchman when he said,
over by an alien android race.
“How does it make you feel when I say the
In a phone interview on Monday, Tan-
word moist?” and calling a recent episode
charoen and Jed Whedon discussed bring-
“Brand New Day.”
ing “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” to a
conclusion. These are edited excerpts from TANCHAROEN [Laughs] Wow!
the conversation. WHEDON Catching all the little hints! We
A couple of years ago, you constructed the cannot confirm nor deny . . .
end of Season 5 to serve as a series finale in TANCHAROEN I feel like we should just re-
case the show was canceled. How did that lease one of the songs.
affect planning this series finale?
WHEDON You know what? After this, we’ll
MAURISSA TANCHAROEN It’s so strange be- make some calls.
ERIC MCCANDLESS/ABC
 THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020 N C7

EVENING
7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00
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2 WCBS ROCK, POP & Discover Holly- NCIS: Los Angeles “Provenance.” The SEAL Team “Time to Shine.” Sonny is 48 Hours (N) CBS 2 News at MyPillow Topper NCIS: New Or-
DOO WOP wood’s fountain of team searches for a stolen painting. trapped in a torpedo tube. (PG) 11P (N) (11:35) leans “Monster.” Catch an engaging political documentary,
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5 WNYW M.L.B. Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees. Fox 5 News at 10 (N) Ultimate Tag “Every Second Counts.” In Depth With
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7 WABC Jeopardy! (G) Wheel of Fortune America’s Funniest Home Videos Shark Tank Ensuring babies sleep The Good Doctor “Hurt.” The city is Eyewitness News at 11 (N) Wipeout Couch
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A&E Live Rescue “Live Rescue, 02.10.20.” Live Rescue “Live Rescue, 12.16.19.” (14) Live Rescue “Live Rescue, 03.02.20.” (14) (10:01) Live Rescue (14)
(14) (5) (12:03)
AHC Weaponology “Waffen-SS.” (14) World War II: Witness to War (14) Pearl Harbor - The Heroes WWII in the Pacific (PG) WWII in the Pacific (PG) Pearl Harbor
AMC . The Godfather (1972). Marlon Brando, Al Pacino. Puzo’s Mafioso novel. . The Godfather, Part II (1974). Al Pacino, Diane Keaton. Another Mafia blockbuster. In some ways, even better than the original. (R)
Scalding and memorable. (R) (5)
APL Pit Bulls and Parolees (PG) Pit Bulls & Parolees: Tia’s Tales Pit Bulls and Parolees (N) (PG) The Secret Life of the Zoo (N) Pit Bulls and Parolees (PG) (11:01) Pit Bulls-Parole
BBCA Planet Earth: Life “Primates.” (PG) Earthflight “Europe (Extended).” (N) Planet Earth: Life (PG) (9:10) Planet Earth: Life (PG) (10:10) Planet Earth: Life (PG) (11:10) Planet Earth
BET Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010). Tyler Perry, Sharon Leal. Struggles of four married couples. Some- Martin “Arms Are Martin “Guard Martin “Yours,
(2007). (PG-13) (4:35) thing for everyone, if you don’t expect much. (PG-13) (7:57) for Huggin’.” (PG) Your Grill.” (PG) Mine and Ours.”
BLOOM Gold 1915 Coin Money Roy Orbison Cher George Carlin Foreigner Peter Robin Williams EarthWindFire Bloomberg Daybreak: Middle East (N) (Live)
BRV . Harry Potter and the Deathly Hal- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010). Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint. Battle with Voldemort moves outside Hogwarts. . Harry Potter and the Deathly Hal-
lows: Part 2 (2011). (PG-13) (5:30) Somber and scary. (PG-13) (8:08) lows: Part 2 (2011). (PG-13) (11:18) ERIN C. BUCKLEY
CBSSN WN.B.A. Liberty vs Lynx U.E.F.A. Champions League Manchester City vs Olympique Lyonnais. Champ. League U.E.F.A. Champions League
Alfie Fuller, left, and Summer Spiro.
CMT Pure Country (1992). (PG) (5:15) . Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Moonshiner eludes sheriff. Funny and flavorsome. (PG) . Smokey and the Bandit II (1980). Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason. (PG)
CN We Bare Bears We Bare Bears Dragon Ball Dragon Ball American Dad American Dad American Dad Rick and Morty Family Guy (14) Family Guy (14) Batman Year PLATONIC Stream on YouTube. This 10-
CNBC Undercover Boss “Menchie’s.” Undercover Boss “Gerber Group.” Ger- Undercover Boss “Wienerschnitzel.” Undercover Boss: Celebrity Edition Undercover Boss “Popeyes Louisiana Undercover Boss episode series, created by Erin C. Buckley,
Menchie’s CEO Amit Kleinberger. (14) ber Group CEO Scott Gerber. (PG) “Bethany Mota.” (PG) Kitchen.” Lynne Zappone. (PG) (PG)
CNN The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer CNN Special Report Donald Trump United Shades of America “The Gig CNN Newsroom
revisits a pre-pandemic New York, before
(N) (N) (N) won the 2016 election. (N) Economy.” (PG) Live (N) (12:01) dating became even more complicated. In
COM South Park (MA) South Park “Sar- . Megamind (2010). Voices of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt. Animated. Supervillain South Park “Dou- South Park (MA) South Park “Tweek South Park (MA) South Park “The short five- to six-minute vignettes, Olive
castaball.” (MA) is at sea after defeating nemesis. Witty deconstruction. (PG) bling Down.” x Craig.” Cissy.” (MA)
(Summer Spiro), a gay Brooklynite, and
COOK Iron Chef America (G) Iron Chef America (G) Iron Chef America (G) Iron Chef America (G) Iron Chef America (G) Iron Chef Amer.
her straight friend, Billy (Ryan King), waft
CSPAN Washington This Week The Contenders: They Ran & Lost But Changed Political History Public Affairs Events (10:02) Public Affairs
in and out of relationships in their search
CSPAN2 Authors on China (N) In Depth “Toni Morrison.” Professor Toni Morrison. History Toni Morrison & Angela Davis
for connection and intimacy. They navigate
CUNY Eldridge & Co. Tony Guida One to One Beyond the Bot . The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947). Derek Bond. Europe in Concert - Top-Acts live Stoler Rpt
the sexual fluidity and boundaries of mod-
DIS Big City Greens Big City Greens Big City Greens Amphibia (N) (Y7) The Owl House Amphibia (Y7) Big City Greens Big City Greens Big City Greens Amphibia (Y7) Jessie (Part 1 of 2)
(Y7) (7:10) (Y7) (7:35) (N) (Y7) (8:22) (G) (9:06) (9:40) (Y7) (10:05) (Y7) (Y7) (10:55) (11:20) (G) (12:10) ern companionship, including open rela-
DIY Maine Cabin Masters (G) Maine Cabin Masters (G) Maine Cabin Masters (G) Maine Cabin Masters (G) Maine Cabin Masters (G) Maine Cabin tionships, bisexuality and flirtatious friends
DSC Sharkadelic Summer: Sharkmania l Sharks of Ghost Island Ghost Island Wicked Sharks The number of sharks Sharks Gone Wild 3 Viral videos and l I Was Prey: Terrors From the Deep Sharks of Ghost (who may be more than friends). Shot in
(N) attracts many sharks. (N) (PG) around Cape Cod. (N) (PG) news stories. (N) (PG) (N) (14) Island (PG) close quarters in bars and small apart-
E! . Legally Blonde (2001). Luke Wilson. (PG-13) (6:30) . Legally Blonde (2001). Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson. (PG-13) (8:45) Home Again (2017). Reese Witherspoon. (PG-13) ments, the series feels like a bite-size ver-
ELREY Phaedra (5:15) . Bleed for This (2016). Comeback of injured boxer Vinny Pazienza. Inspiring and interesting. (R) Santo and Dracula’s Treasure (1969). Santo, Aldo Monti. Santo vs. Rider sion of “Girls” or “High Maintenance.”
ESPN U.F.C. 252: Miocic vs. Cormier 3 - Prelims From UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas. SportsCenter SportsCenter SportsCenter
REPRESENT (2020) Watch through virtual
ESPN2 N.B.A.2K League The Ticket, day 3. (5) E60 Super Rugby Crusaders vs Blues.
cinemas. The three female candidates at
ESPNCL M.L.B. From Oct. 24, 1981. (6) M.L.B. From Oct. 18, 1977. M.L.B. From Oct. 25, 1987. M.L.B.
the center of this documentary are not only
FOOD Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive Diners, Drive
out to win; they’re also pushing to shake up
FOXNEWS Life, Liberty & Levin Attorney General Watters’ World (N) Justice With Judge Jeanine (N) The Greg Gutfeld Show (N) Watters’ World Justice With Judge
Bill Barr. Jeanine their local political systems. There’s Myya
FREEFRM KF Panda 2 Despicable Me (2010). Voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel. (PG) (7:40) Despicable Me 2 (2013). Voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig. (PG) (9:45) Puss in Boots Jones, a 22-year-old mayoral candidate in
FS1 M.L.B. Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds. (6) Steelers Ravens Mexico Primera Division Soccer Monterrey vs Necaxa. SmackDown Detroit who wants to empower her Black
FUSE Malcolm, Middle Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (2008). Kal Penn, John Cho. (R) Hype Up (N) (14) Hype Up (14) Unframed (N) Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004). constituents. Julie Cho, a state representa-
FX The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017). Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart. Magical game, now on Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017). Dwayne Johnson. Magical game, tive candidate in Illinois, aims to establish
Andrew Garfield. (PG-13) (5) video, traps four teens. Works extra hard to please. (PG-13) now on video, traps four teens. Works extra hard to please. (PG-13) herself in the Republican Party, while also
FXM Downsizing (2017). Matt Damon, The Heat (2013). Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy. Fed and cop take on drug lord. Bullock-Mc- The Heat (2013). Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy. Fed and cop take on
Kristen Wiig. (R) (5:20) Carthy chemistry carries day. (R) (8:05) drug lord. Bullock-McCarthy chemistry carries day. (R) (10:25)
trying to win over voters in her liberal
FXX Logan (2017). Hugh Jackman. Logan protects ailing Professor X and young mutant girl. Solidly hits its marks. (R) Upgrade (2018). Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel. (R) Cake (MA) district. And Bryn Bird, a Democrat, wants
FYI Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars to disrupt the conservative, male-domi-
GOLF Golf U.S. Amateur Championship, semifinals. From Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore. Golf Central P.G.A. Tour Golf Wyndham Championship, third round. nated political network in her rural Ohio
GSN Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud Family Feud town as township trustee.
HALL The Last Bridesmaid (2019, TVF). Rachel Boston, Paul Campbell. Wedding Every Weekend (2020, TVF). Kimberley Sustad, Paul Campbell. Nature of Love (2020, TVF). Christopher Russell. (11:02)

What’s on TV
HGTV Good Bones (G) Vacation House Rules (N) Vacation House Rules (9:01) Love It or List It (PG) (10:01) Love It or List It (PG) (11:01) Vacation House
HIST The UnXplained “Mysterious Curses.” The UnXplained “The Underground l The UnXplained “Leading Double Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO The UnXplained “Superhuman Sens- The UnXplained
(14) World.” (14) Lives.” (N) (14) Investigation (N) (PG) (10:03) es.” The five senses. (14) (11:05) (14) (12:03)
HLN Very Scary People (6) Very Scary People Very Scary People Very Scary People Very Scary People Forensic Files
ID The Night That Didn’t End “Enter The Night That Didn’t End “John Doe Cabin in the Woods A weekend es- The Genetic Detective “Hunt for the 20/20 on ID “Decoding a Murder.” A Cabin in the
Frame Left.” (14) 57.” (14) cape into the woods. (N) (14) Runaway Killer.” detective helps break a cold case. Woods (14)
IFC White House Down (2013). Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx. Working-class hero . John Wick (2014). Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist. Ex-assassin takes ex- I Am Legend (2007). Will Smith, Alice Braga. (PG-13)
saves world as we know it. Less idiotic than you’d think. (PG-13) (6) treme revenge. Stylish and brilliantly simple. (R) (11:15)
LIFE The Twisted Son (2019, TVF). Andrea Beware of Mom (2020, TVF). Crystal Allen, René Ashton. Wild woman wants Birthmother’s Betrayal (2020, TVF). Tanya Clarke, Aria Pullman. Biological Beware of Mom
Roth, Tygh Runyan. (6) to steal away mom’s teenage daughter. mom is back in picture, adoptive mom is worried. (10:03) (2020, TVF). (12:01)
LIFEMOV Stolen by My Mother: The Kamiyah Flint (2017, TVF). Queen Latifah, Marin Ireland. Woman deals with toxic wa- Custody (2016, TVF). Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere. Judge presides over Flint (2017, TVF).
Mobley Story (2020, TVF). (6) ter crisis in Flint, Mich. devastating case. Queen Latifah.
7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00
LOGO Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With Married . With
Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG) Children (PG)
MLB M.L.B. Tonight (6) M.L.B. Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels. Quick Pitch
MSG Who Wore It Best? Complex Shorts Complex Shorts Horse Racing Saratoga Live. JUSTIN BETTMAN

MSGPL Trackside Live (N) (Live) Giants Training N.H.L. New York Islanders vs Washington Capitals. William Shatner
MSNBC MSNBC Live (N) MSNBC Live (N) MSNBC Live (N) The Rachel Maddow Show The Last Word All In With
MTV Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness Ridiculousness THE UNXPLAINED 9 p.m. on History. William
NBCS N.H.L. Live N.H.L. Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets. Track and Field I.A.A.F. Diamond League: Monaco. Motocross Shatner hosts this nonfiction series that
NGEO Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks (14) Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks (N) (14) Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks (N) (14) Gathering Storm (N) (PG) (10:03) Gathering Storm (N) (PG) (11:03) Gathering Storm aims to offer context and explanation to
NICK . Shrek (2001). Eddie Murphy. (PG) (6) Unfiltered All That (N) (8:35) SpongeBob SpongeBob Friends (PG) Friends (14) Friends (14) Friends (14) Friends (14) historical events that still seem mysterious.
NICKJR Paw Patrol (Y) Team Umizoomi Team Umizoomi Team Umizoomi Peppa Pig (Y) Peppa Pig (Y) Peppa Pig (Y) Peppa Pig (Y) Team Umizoomi Team Umizoomi Peppa Pig (Y) On this episode, the show highlights infa-
NY1 News Weekend On Stage (N) News Weekend News Weekend News Weekend News Weekend News Weekend On Stage News Weekend News Weekend News Weekend mous impostors and examines the possible
OVA The Code (MA) . A League of Their Own (1992). Tom Hanks. Women and baseball, back when. Immensely enjoyable. (PG) . Mommie Dearest (1981). (PG) motives behind their deceptions.
OWN Love & Marriage: Huntsville (14) Love & Marriage: Huntsville (N) Family or Fiancé (N) (14) Girlfriends Check In (N) (14) Love & Marriage: Huntsville (14) Family or Fiancé SHARKS OF GHOST ISLAND 8 p.m. on Discov-
OXY Dateline: Secrets Uncovered “A Gathering Storm.” (PG) Dateline: Secrets Uncovered (PG) Mark of a Serial Killer (N) (14) Mark of a Serial Killer (N) (14) Mark of a Ser ery. Shark Week isn’t over yet. Tonight’s
PARMT . Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Harrison Ford, Karen Allen. (PG) (7:05) . Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Pursuit of father and Holy Grail. Great fun. (PG-13) (9:35)
programming includes an hourlong special
SCIENCE Mysteries of the Abandoned (PG) What on Earth? “Curse of Lake Michigan.” (N) (PG) What on Earth? “The Cave to Hell.” What on Earth? about an area in the Bermuda Triangle
SMITH Combat Ships (PG) Combat Ships (PG) Combat Ships (PG) Combat Ships (PG) Combat Ships (PG) Combat Ships that’s become a hot spot for shark activity.
SNY M.L.B. New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies. (6) Mets Postgame Kid: A Gary Carter Story (G) SportsNite SportsNite SportsNite
The marine biologist Dr. Craig O’Connell
STZENF Ice Age (2002). (PG) (6:37) Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006). John Leguizamo. (PG) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009). (PG) (9:32) The Land Before Time (1988). (G) (11:08)
heads there to understand why the area
SUN Crocodile Dundee II (1988). Paul Hogan. Up against drug . Ghostbusters (1984). Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd. Battling strangeness in the Big Apple. Ghostbusters II (1989). Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd. (PG)
kingpin. Trumped-up sequel. (PG) (6) High-spirited fun. (PG) attracts so many sharks. And later, a Cali-
SYFY Rush Hour 2 (2001). Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker. Detectives battle Hong Kong Rush Hour 3 (2007). Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker. Carter and Lee battle Chi- Futurama (14) Futurama (14) Dallas & Robo (N) fornia surfer, a Canadian thrill-seeker and
gangster and henchmen. Ramshackle sequel, but fun to watch. (PG-13) nese gangsters in Paris. Junky, clunky, grimly unfunny. (PG-13) (9:02) (11:02) (11:32) (MA) (12:02) an Alabama football coach share their
TBS Wonder Woman (2017). Gal Gadot, The Big Bang The- The Big Bang The- The Big Bang The- The Big Bang The- The Big Bang The- The Big Bang The- Full Frontal With Central Intelligence (2016). Dwayne stories of close shark encounters on I WAS
Chris Pine. (PG-13) (5) ory (PG) ory (PG) ory (PG) ory (PG) ory (14) ory (PG) Samantha Bee Johnson, Kevin Hart. (PG-13)
PREY: TERRORS FROM THE DEEP at 11 p.m.
TCM . Executive Suite (1954). Corporate . An American in Paris (1951). Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron. Grand musical, My Name Is Julia Ross (1945). Nina Foch, George Mac- Illegal (1955). Edward G. Robinson.
power play. Very entertaining. (6) luscious Gershwin. ready. (10:15) Flabby plot, good acting. LAUREN MESSMAN
TLC Say Yes to the Dress (PG) Say Yes to the Dress (N) (PG) Say Yes to the Dress (PG) American Gypsy Wedding American Gypsy Wedding Say Yes, Dress
TNT Tag (2018). 40-something friends play We’re the Millers (2013). Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis. Misfits pose as family to transport Couples Retreat (2009). Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman. Midwestern couples
annual game of tag. Not it. (R) (5:45) drugs. Occasionally hilarious. (R) descend on island resort. Comedy of exhaustion. (PG-13) ONLINE: TELEVISION LISTINGS
TRAV Paranormal Survivor (PG) Paranormal Survivor (PG) Believers (N) (14) Hotel Paranormal (N) (PG) Hotel Paranormal (PG) Paranormal Daily television highlights, recent reviews by
TRU Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Inside Jokes Tacoma FD (MA) Inside Jokes The Times's critics, series recaps and what to
TVLAND Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men watch recommendations. nytimes.com/tv
USA Doctor Strange (2016). Chiwetel Ejiofor. Crippled surgeon Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Robert Downey Jr. Chris Hemsworth. Avengers reassemble to battle villainous robot. Doctor Strange (2016). Benedict
becomes superhero. Giddily enjoyable. (PG-13) (6) Diverting and dreary. (PG-13) Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor. (PG-13)
Definitions of symbols used in Ratings:
VH1 Friday After . Baby Boy (2001). Tyrese Gibson, Omar Gooding. (R) 8 Mile (2002). White rapper triumphs over Detroit trailer park. Eminem’s rawified story. Go for it. the program listings: (Y) All children
VICE Pineapple Express (2008). Seth Rogen. A stoner flees after witnessing a murder. Pineapple Express (2008). Seth Rogen. A stoner flees after witnessing a murder. How to Rob ★ Recommended film (Y7) Directed to older children
✩ Recommended series (G) General audience
WE Criminal Minds “Profiler, Profiled.” Criminal Minds “No Way Out.” A prolif- Criminal Minds “The Big Game.” A Criminal Minds “Revelations.” A serial Criminal Minds “Fear and Loathing.” Criminal Minds ● New or noteworthy program (PG) Parental guidance
Team delves into Morgan’s past. (PG) ic serial killer. (Part 1 of 2) (14) wealthy couple’s murder. (14) killer kidnaps Reid. (Part 2 of 2) (PG) “Distress.” (PG) (N) New show or episode suggested
WGN-A Blue Bloods “Lost Souls.” (14) Blue Bloods “Hard Bargain.” (14) Blue Bloods “Shadow of a Doubt.” Blue Bloods (14) Blue Bloods “Love Lost.” (PG) Blue Bloods (PG) (CC) Closed-caption (14) Parents strongly cautioned
(HD) High definition (MA) Mature audience only
YES WN.B.A. New York Liberty vs Minnesota Lynx. 18 Holes Swing Clinic New York Yankees Postgame WN.B.A. New York Liberty vs Minnesota Lynx.
C8 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2020